Urban Environment and Infrastructure

Urban Environment and Infrastructure
Author: Anthony G. Bigio
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780821357965

The 'brown agenda, ' or urban environmental issues, became an important part of the international policy agenda following the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. Urban environmental issues continue to remain a major challenge in the cities of developing countries. The World Bank strengthened its focus on urban environmental management with the adoption of this brown agenda as part of the Bank's urban livability program. 'Urban Environment and Infrastructure' reviews the World Bank's activities to improve urban environmental quality. It sets out the Bank's expanded brown agenda and emphasizes the crucial importance of infrastructure and environmental interventions in order to improve livability in cities in developing countries. The World Bank has more than US$12 billion worth of active commitments aimed at improving urban environmental quality. While the Bank's investments are directed at much needed basic environmental services especially for the urban poor, the challenge of improving urban environment or livability in large cities needs further attention. Increasing climate variability, its impacts, especially sea-level rise, and urban impacts of natural disasters are becoming more and more part of the daily challenges facing cities in the developing world, seventy percent of which are located on the coasts. The volume provides pragmatic recommendations on how to deal with the challenge of this expanded brown agenda.

Urban Infrastructure in Transition

Urban Infrastructure in Transition
Author: Timothy Moss
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2016-05-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134941668

Achieving sustainable energy and resource use is vital if cities are to thrive or even function in the long term. Focusing on cities in the United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark, this book examines the mounting pressures for changes in the management style of utility services in Europe, pressures that stem from a wide range of sources such as liberalization and privatization of markets, tighter environmental standards, new economic incentives, competing technologies and changing consumption patterns. The authors show how changes in the management of utility services can contribute to achieving greater sustainability in urban regions. Whilst more efficient technology has a part to play, truly significant improvements in quality of life will be delivered only when the flow of material and energy through cities is focused on the goal of sustainability in each local context.

Green Infrastructure

Green Infrastructure
Author: John W. Dover
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2015-07-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1136330747

With more than half of the world's population now living in urban areas, it is vitally important that towns and cities are healthy places to live. The principal aim of this book is to synthesize the disparate literature on the use of vegetation in the built environment and its multifunctional benefits to humans. The author reviews issues such as: contact with wildlife and its immediate and long-term effects on psychological and physical wellbeing; the role of vegetation in removing health-damaging pollutants from the air; green roofs and green walls, which provide insulation, reduce energy use and decrease the carbon footprint of buildings; and structural vegetation such as street trees, providing shading and air circulation whilst also helping to stop flash-floods through surface drainage. Examples are used throughout to illustrate the practical use of vegetation to improve the urban environment and deliver ecosystem services. Whilst the underlying theme is the value of biodiversity, the emphasis is less on existing high-value green spaces (such as nature reserves, parks and gardens), than on the sealed surfaces of urban areas (building surfaces, roads, car parks, plazas, etc.). The book shows how these, and the spaces they encapsulate, can be modified to meet current and future environmental challenges including climate change. The value of existing green space is also covered to provide a comprehensive textbook of international relevance.

Urban Sustainability and River Restoration

Urban Sustainability and River Restoration
Author: Katia Perini
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2017-02-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 111924496X

Urban Sustainability and River Restoration: Green and Blue Infrastructure considers the integration of green and blue infrastructure in cities as a strategy useful for acting on causes and effects of environmental and ecological issues. River restoration projects are unique opportunities for sustainable development and smart growth of communities, providing multiple environmental, economic, and social benefits.This book analyzes initiatives and actions carried out and developed to improve environmental conditions in cities and better understand the environmental impact of (and in) dense urban areas in the United States and in Europe.

Sustainable Infrastructure for Cities and Societies

Sustainable Infrastructure for Cities and Societies
Author: Michael Neuman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2021-12-31
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1000513688

The central role of infrastructure to cities, and in particular their sustainability, is essential for proper planning and design since most energy and materials are themselves consumed by or through infrastructures. Moreover, infrastructures of all types affect matters of economic and social equity, due to access that they provide or prevent. Sustainable Infrastructure for Cities and Societies shows how fundamental planning, design, finance, and governance principles can be adapted for sustainable infrastructure to provide solutions to make cities significantly more sustainable. By providing a contemporary overview on infrastructure, cities, planning, economies, and sustainability, the book addresses how to plan, design, finance, and manage infrastructure in ways that reduce consumption and harmful impacts while maintaining and improving life quality. It considers the interrelationships between the economic, political, societal, and institutional frameworks, providing an integrative approach including livability and sustainability, principles and practice, and planning and design. It further translates these approaches that professionals, policymakers, and leaders can use. This approach gives the book wide appeal for students, researchers, and practitioners hoping to build a more sustainable world.

Urban Environment Management

Urban Environment Management
Author: Archana Ghosh
Publisher: Concept Publishing Company
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2003
Genre: Environmental management
ISBN: 9788180690402

Provides Insight About The Environmental Problems Plaguing The Urban Areas In A Cross-Country Perspectives. Emphasizes The Partnership Between The Local Government And The Community In Urban Environmental Management Sustainable Development. Provides Case Studies Also.

Network Infrastructure and the Urban Environment

Network Infrastructure and the Urban Environment
Author: Lars Lundqvist
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 419
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642722423

This volume is the result of an international collaboration, which started with a conference at Smadalaro Gfrrd in Sweden. The workshop was supported by the National Science Foundation of the USA (INT-9215114) and by the Swedish National Road Administration, the Swedish Council for Building Research, the Swedish Transport and Communications Research Board and the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research. This support is gratefully acknow ledged. The collaboration started as a bilateral u.S.-Swedish endeavour but was soon widened to other scholars in Europe, Asia, Australia and South-America. Network Infrastructure and the Urban Environment is a policy area of growing importance. Sustainable cities and sustainable transport systems are necessary for attaining a sustainable development. The research and policy field, represented in this volume, comprises a number of challenging contrasts: - the contrast between infrastructure investments, mobility and environmental sustainability; - the contrast between policy contexts, modelling traditions and available decision support systems in various parts of the world; - the contrast between available best practice methods and the majority of models applied in planning; the contrast between static models of cross-sectionary equilibria and dynamic models of disequilibrium adjustments; and the contrast between state-of-the-art operationalland-use/transport models and new demands for land-use/transportlenvironment models due to changing policy contexts. Bridging some of these gaps constitutes important research tasks, that are discussed in the twenty-two chapters of this book. A number of emerging research directions are identified in the introduction and summary chapter.

Planning Sustainable Cities

Planning Sustainable Cities
Author: Spiro N. Pollalis
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2016-05-20
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1317282760

Planning Sustainable Cities: An infrastructure-based approach provides an analytical framework for urban sustainability, focusing on the services and performance of infrastructure systems. The book approaches infrastructure as a series of systems that function in synergy and are directly linked with urban planning. This method streamlines and guides the planning process, while still highlighting detail, each infrastructure system is decoded in four "system levels". The levels organize the processes, highlight connections between entities and decode the high-level planning and decision making process affecting infrastructure. For each system level strategic objectives of planning are determined. The objectives correspond to the five focus areas of the Zofnass program: Quality of life, Natural World, Climate and Risk, Resource Allocation, Leadership. Developed through the Zofnass Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, this approach integrates the key infrastructure systems of Energy, Landscape, Transportation, Waste, Water, Information and Food and explores their synergies through land use planning, engineering, economics and policy. The size and complexity of infrastructure systems means that multiple stakeholders facing their own challenges and agendas are involved in planning; this book creates a common, collaborative platform between public authorities, planners, and engineers. It is an essential resource for those seeking Envision Sustainability Professionals accreditation.

Sustainable Urban Environments

Sustainable Urban Environments
Author: Ellen M. van Bueren
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2011-09-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9400712944

The urban environment – buildings, cities and infrastructure – represents one of the most important contributors to climate change, while at the same time holding the key to a more sustainable way of living. The transformation from traditional to sustainable systems requires interdisciplinary knowledge of the re-design, construction, operation and maintenance of the built environment. Sustainable Urban Environments: An Ecosystem Approach presents fundamental knowledge of the built environment. Approaching the topic from an ecosystems perspective, it shows the reader how to combine diverse practical elements into sustainable solutions for future buildings and cities. You’ll learn to connect problems and solutions at different spatial scales, from urban ecology to material, water and energy use, from urban transport to livability and health. The authors introduce and explore a variety of governance tools that support the transformation process, and show how they can help overcome institutional barriers. The book concludes with an account of promising perspectives for achieving a sustainable built environment in industrialized countries. Offering a unique overview and understanding of the most pressing challenges in the built environment, Sustainable Urban Environments helps the reader grasp opportunities for integration of knowledge and technologies in the design, construction and management of the built environment. Students and practitioners who are eager to look beyond their own fields of interest will appreciate this book because of its depth and breadth of coverage.