Urban Transformations

Abstract

Future City DescriptionAs of 2008, for the first time in human history, half of the world's population now live in cities. And with concerns about issues such as climate change, energy supply and environmental health receiving increasing political attention, interest in the sustainable development of our future cities has grown dramatically.Yet despite a wealth of literature on green architecture, evidence-based design and sustainable planning, only a fraction of the current literature successfully integrates the necessary theory and practice from across the full range of relevant disciplines.Springer's Future City series combines expertise from designers, and from natural and social scientists, to discuss the wide range of issues facing the architects, planners, developers and inhabitants of the world's future cities. Its aim is to encourage the integration of ecological theory into the aesthetic, social and practical realities of contemporary urban development. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Printed on acid-free paper ForewordThis volume is dedicated to the topic "Urban Transformations: Sustainable Urban Development Through Resource Efficiency, Quality of Life and Resilience". After the Habitat III conference and the adoption of the New Urban Agenda, the question of how to tackle the challenges in terms of transforming our cities in a sustainable direction is more urgent than ever. We need to think about appropriate instruments, strategies and mechanisms and have to consider adequate governance patterns, existing power constellations and the inclusion of the civil society.Our responsibility, as scientists, is to provide an interdisciplinary framework for understanding urban transformations that can serve as a reference not only for professionals in many of the disciplines involved in this volume but also for those involved in policymaking...