This book details a process of creating a long-term sustainability and resilience plan for local governments to use in designing and implementing sustainability and resilience-related policies, initiatives, and programs. It offers guidance and methods in applying sustainability and resilience strategies to attain the prosperity of organizations and communities. The recommendations in this book are based on the author's years of experience in directing applied resilience and sustainability planning for a local government, and years of research covering diverse aspects of sustainability and resilience from climate change, climate preparedness and readiness, quadruple bottom line strategy, greenhouse gas emission reduction policies, climate adaptation and mitigation to sustainable energy policies and initiatives. Chapter one defines terms related to sustainability and resilience and addresses how the topics reshape local governments and communities. Chapter two maps out the sustainability and resilience process for organizations and communities, determining the appropriate steps to be taken at each level of sustainability and resilience planning. Chapter three identifies community and organizational level engagement, with internal and external stakeholders, including designs necessary throughout these processes. Chapter four contains measuring, tracking, monitoring and reporting methods using the quadruple bottom line strategy, and developing a sustainability and resilience progress report to ensure accountability, transparency, and good governance. Then, chapter five details the implementation of a sustainability and resilience plan once it is established, describing potential programs and initiatives to achieve sustainable and resilient communities. Chapter six describes the intersection between sustainability and resilience, and chapter seven examines the tools and resources available to create a practical sustainability and resilience plan. Chapter eight concludes the text by addressing the future of sustainability and resilience, and complexities of the modern dynamics of the interconnected systems in cities, counties, and organizations, and recommends how local government administrators in their planning methods and strategies must consider these challenges.

The book examines management strategies for developing and implementing strategic resilience and sustainability plans for sustainable and climate-resilient communities and organizations. It examines trends in resilience and sustainability planning, highlighting best practices and case studies. The book explores Quadruple Bottom Line strategies and methods to implement resilience and sustainability-related initiatives in organizations and communities. It also examines diverse perspectives on climate resilience, climate preparedness and readiness, greenhouse gas emission reductions policies, climate adaptation and mitigation, disaster preparedness and readiness, and sustainable energy policies and projects. Additionally, the book offers insights on strategic resilience and sustainability planning during a pandemic as well as private sector perspectives on strategic resilience and sustainability. In chapter one, the author presents expanded definitions of strategic resilience and sustainability as well as mechanisms reshaping communities and organizations. Chapter two examines strategic planning processes for communities and organizations and lays out planning steps. Chapter three offers insights into community and organizational level engagement, looking at internal and external stakeholders, organizers, partners, collaborators, and implementers of distinct stages of strategic resilience and sustainability planning. Chapter four outlines measurements and tactics to track and improve strategic resilience and sustainability reporting mechanisms using the quadruple bottom line strategy. It offers a resilience progress report to ensure accountability, answerability, transparency, and good governance. Chapter five details the implementation of a strategic resilience and sustainability plan, describing programs and initiatives to achieve resilient and sustainable communities and organizations. Chapter six extensively examines the theoretical and practical intersection between climate change, resilience, and sustainability. Chapter seven reviews resources available for strategic resilience and sustainability plans to aid communities and organizations. Chapter eight assesses the current and future state of resilience and sustainability in communities and organizations, including concerns surrounding climate change, pandemics, disaster resilience, and emergency management and preparedness.

Cities, and the built environment more broadly, are key in the global response to climate change. This groundbreaking book seeks to understand what governance tools are best suited for achieving cities that are less harmful to the natural environment,

This book presents a comprehensive framework and indicators that can be used to assess a city’s degree of resilience. Based on surveys using bottom-up assessment tools, it proposes the concept, framework and indicators of a resilient policy model (including some participatory approaches). It also presents case studies of this and similar tools applied to Japanese and Asian cities, the highlights including information not previously available in English. Today, the term “resilience” is prevalent in the context of sustainable societies. The IPCC AR5 published in 2014 again stressed the impact of climate change on natural disasters, while in March 2015 at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, the United Nations International Strategy of Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) published the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction Action 2015-2030 , which serves as a guideline for local governments. Offering transdisciplinary perspectives from fields such as policy science, urban planning, environmental science, social psychology, management development and geography, this book discusses the lessons learned from Asian case studies, explaining the challenges and the effectiveness of the tools, and offering transdisciplinary insights for policymakers.

This book seeks to revise and challenge the roles and traditional realms of influence that national and local governments, and businesses at a critical juncture in terms of achieving sustainable development, faces when tackling the dual challenges of climate change and post-COVID recovery. Using the broader lens of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to assess the roles and responsibilities of each of these stakeholders and their relationships, the book offers policy, economic arguments, case studies and examples to argue that neither national or local governments, nor companies, could afford to deviate from the SDGs in the recovery from the current crisis, nor that the imperative of bold climate action should detract from the broader focus on sustainability. The analysis frames the debate of how a balance between people, planet, and profits can be achieved and how nations, regions and cities, and businesses, with their representative organizations, can achieve a sustainable recovery from the current global crisis, and contribute to climate smart, resilient and inclusive development.

The demand on local government to do more with less by improving operations, increasing productivity, and making better and more informed decisions increases constantly. On a departmental level Geographic Information Systems are helping meet this demand but the majority of local government organizations do not take the time to understand the GIS needs and opportunities of each and every department. This book: Discusses how towns, cities and counties and their specific departments should actually use GIS Explains the best ways to use GIS tools through many specific case studies and step by step instructions Emphasises local government needs first before offering solutions Gives readers a practical and understandable way of thinking about managing and making GIS successful This book is the guide that details best GIS applications and practices for the 34 departments in local government that can, and should, use GIS technology. It explains in details how, why, and what each department should implement, a clear and understandable explanation of departmental GIS.

This volume contains the proceedings of the 2022 iteration of the ISPGAYA meeting, titled “Multidimensional Sustainability: Transitions and Convergences” and held on September 29 and 30th, 2022 in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. The conference and resulting book intend to explore the involvement of Portugal, a country on the semi-periphery of the world system, in developments regarding the understanding of and progress toward sustainability. The conference was organized by ISPGAYA, an institution belonging to the private polytechnic higher education system in Portugal, and brought together participants from around the world. This volume intends to establish a milestone in the multidimensional approach to the theme of sustainability, affirming the concept's multi- and interdisciplinary nature and bringing together scholars across disciplines.

Resilience has become a very topical issue transcending many spheres and sectors of sustainable urban development. This book presents a resilience framework for sustainable cities and towns in Africa. The rise in informal settlements is due to the urban planning practices in most African cities that rarely reflect the realities of urban life and environment for urban development. Aspects of places, people and process are central to the concept of urban resilience and sustainable urban growth. It stems from the observation that urban vulnerability is on the increase in Zimbabwe and beyond. In history, disasters have adversely affected nations across the world, inflicting wide ranging losses on one hand while on the other hand creating development opportunities for urban communities. Cooperation in disaster management is a strategy for minimising losses and uplifting the affected urban settlements. The significance of urban planning and design in the growth and development of sustainable urban centres is well documented. Urbanisation has brought with it challenges that most developing countries such as Zimbabwe are not equipped to handle. This has been accompanied by problems such as overpopulation, overcrowding, shortages of resources and the growth of slum settlements. There need is to seriously consider urban planning and design in order to come up with contemporary designs that are resilient to current urban challenges. There are major gaps in urban resilience building for instance in Harare and the local authority needs to prioritise investment in resilient urban infrastructure. ​

This book provides local governments and interested stakeholders with insights into the challenges and opportunities inherent in addressing climate change. Drawing on in-depth case study research on Vancouver, Portland, Glasgow and Dublin, Dekker examines the policy development processes employed by urban policy makers to respond to climate change, looking specifically at the utilisation of collaborative planning. Emerging from the case studies are lessons for local governments in relation to the role of organisational structure in supporting climate leadership; the importance of leadership, trust, relationship building and narratives for supporting ownership of the responses to climate change by stakeholders; and the need for creative and innovative public engagement to expand the reach of traditional methods such as social media and other technology-based solutions. Finally, Dekker reflects on her experience in the development of climate change action plans for the Dublin Local Authorities. This book will be of great relevance to students, scholars and policy makers with an interest in climate change resilience, environmental policy and urban planning.