Sustainable Urbanisation in the Caribbean critically examines the socio-geographic context of island states, prioritising the nuanced experiences of Caribbean island states and territories that are largely considered small island developing states (SIDS), against the backdrop of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Increases in urban density place enormous pressure on existing infrastructures and natural resources, exacerbating social inequalities and environmental risks. While the UN SDGs aim to mitigate these risks, the reality of implementing these goals in the context of SIDS is complex. Whereas Sustainable Urbanisation in the Caribbean does not claim to be a comprehensive assessment of policy responses to the SDGs, this edited volume seeks to generate problem-focused, policy-relevant, demand-driven research, thereby permitting the geographical contexts of island states to contribute to the development of proper causal theory about sustainable urbanisation. This book will be of interest to students of public policy, urban sustainability and climate change, as well as government policy analysts, development practitioners, urban planners and UN agencies working in SIDS.

By 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people will be living in the world’s towns and cities, almost 50% of them in the 56 Commonwealth countries. To a significant extent, the future of the planet hangs on how cities and human settlements are managed. It is in our cities that the emissions creating climate catastrophe are stoked and where change can – and must – make a difference at scale. Food security, water, basic services, migration, shelter, jobs, environment: sustainable urbanisation is about changing direction to strive for a fairer and less environmentally damaging future. This well-illustrated book by authors from around the Commonwealth tells how the Commonwealth Association of Planners across five decades has campaigned to make a difference. It also looks ahead, scoping the urgent, practical action that is now required.

This book focuses on the latest cutting-edge research for achieving sustainable development goals during urbanisation in the Belt and Road Initiative Era. The book aims on tackling urban challenges on social and environmental issues. The book is a compilation of selected papers from the 2020 International Conference on Resource Sustainability – Sustainable Urbanisation in the BRI Era (icRS Urbanisation 2020). The contents make valuable contributions to academic researchers, practitioners in the industry and policymakers of respective authorities. Readers will also encounter new ideas for realising a better sustainable development for urbanisation.

The rapid urbanization that began with industrialization has begun to cause many problems. New approaches are emerging today to minimize these problems and make urban areas more livable. These problems include insufficient social facilities in urban areas for increasing populations due to migration and unbalanced use of green areas, water, and energy resources due to urbanization. Careless consumption and the pollution of natural resources will cause people many more problems in the future than they do today in urban development. Many professional disciplines have noticed this unbalanced development in urban areas. Urban areas have larger populations than rural areas today. Urban areas are developed neglectfully. Sustainability is needed as a criterion for urban areas to develop in a more livable and healthy fashion. Sustainable urban development approaches are seen in many fields, ranging from land use to the use of natural resources in urban areas.

This report compares urbanisation trends in OECD countries on the basis of a newly defined OECD methodology which enables cross-country comparison of the socio-econimic and environmental performance of metropolitan areas in OECD countries.

This book analyses the implications of eco-urbanism re-making for policy and practice under the transformational trends of economic decentralization and market reform in China. While the guiding themes are space, scale, and governance of cities, the book focuses on three interrelated prevailing processes of local green space reproduction, cross-scale mediation of eco-city planning ideology and mobilized social-economic-political intricacies among different countries. This book addresses the ongoing global diffusion and diversification of sustainable urbanism discourses, debates and practices to portray, evaluate, remake and implement a sustainable form of urban development, using China as a national example. As eco-city practice becomes a city-branding instrument worldwide, this new urban development vision is also well embraced by Chinese local governments. In these contexts, the Chinese government has initiated and endorsed a number of massive projects to promote green urbanism, steering urbanization onto a more sustainable trajectory. The construction of these “ecotopias” involves a multitude of processes ranging from policy transfer/mobility to institutional design, from innovation in green technologies to the promotion of green buildings, and from policy implementation to public participation.

This comprehensive volume contributes to the existing and emerging body of literature on contemporary urbanization and the interactions between cities and the environment. The volume is contextualized against latest theories, debates and discussions on 'sustainable urbanization', the post‐2015 development agenda of the United Nations and India's official launching of the 'smart city' agenda. Reflecting on three major components of urban sustainability: investments and infrastructures, waste management, and urban ecologies and environmentalisms, it moves beyond the bi‐centric approach of only looking into the differences between the ‘developed’ and the ‘developing’ world and reflects on cities across India using polycentric methods and approaches. The Indian urban scenario is extremely complex and diverse, and solutions laid out in official and non‐official documents tend to miss these complexities. This volume includes innovative research across different parts of India, identifying city‐specific sources of unsustainability and challenges along with strategies and potentials that would make the process of urban transition both sustainable and equitable. Complex explorations of non‐linear, bottom‐up, multisectoral process‐based local urban contexts across north, south, east and west Indian cities in this volume critique a general acceptance of the universalized concept of ‘sustainable urbanization’ and suggest ways that might be important for transcending inclusive theories to form practical policy-based recommendations and actions.