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.

This volume explores the spatial side of sustainability using cases from India. It provides a variety of chapters from scholars from West Bengal and elsewhere in the country, highlighting spatial perspectives on environmental issues and offering insight on sustainable development in the subcontinent from a geographical perspective. A wide variety of topics are covered here, including but not limited to mitigation of and adaptation to climate issues, hydrogeomorphologic issues, environmental management, agricultural sustainability, ecosystem services, urban environmental management and tourism issues. The lessons learned here are transferable to other contexts, and the book is a resource for researchers, academics, practitioners, government organizations, NGOs and anyone else interested in the spatial side of sustainability.

Though conflicts continue to arise over land use and land cover changes, the conversion of forest land to cropland or other land uses such as housing and urban development have been on the rise in recent years. Decisions regarding land use and land cover influence climate change as well as various natural processes. While proper changes can minimize the effects and speed of climatic changes, the continued adverse changes may be accelerating the deterioration of the world’s condition. Examining International Land Use Policies, Changes, and Conflicts presents the latest research on the present status of land use and land cover changes throughout the world in order to determine appropriate land use policies that can protect earth’s present and future condition. The findings of the studies investigate the conflicts behind the land tenure and land uses in different countries of the world and examines existing policies and the reasons behind changes in them. Ultimately, the book provides readers with knowledge on how land can be managed in a sustained manner, how landscape models are helpful for predicting and determining future land uses, how land can be managed with the best architectural measures, and how urban forestry is helpful for better environmental management and adapting or mitigating climate change effects. Land users, agriculturalists, urban planners, policymakers, government officials, researchers, academicians, and students looking to improve their understanding of this topic for better use of land in the future will find this book to be an asset to their current research.

The conference presented a multidisciplinary interactive forum to researchers, students, academicians, industry professionals, policymakers and scientists focusing on three key tracks, namely, Architecture and Built Environment, Planning and Practices, and Design and Society. Presenters shared experiences, research results, and scholarly contributions and discussed the practical challenges encountered and solutions to be adopted. The selected contributions are enclosed within the proceedings.

Over the past two decades, sustainability has become a principal concern for city administrators. It is more than just an environmental issue entailing economic, demographic, governance, social, and amenity aspects. After a short introduction to some t

This volume presents a novel framework to understand urban climate co-benefits in India, that is, tackling climate change and achieving sustainable development goals in cities. It utilizes methods and tools from several assessment frameworks to scientifically evaluate sector co-benefits for informed decision making. The co-benefits approach can lead to significant improvements in the way societies use environmental resources and distribute their outputs. The volume discusses four main themes: (1) Concepts and theories on cities and climate co-benefits; (2) Contextualizing co-benefit issues across spatial scales and sectors; (3) Sectoral analyses of co-benefits in energy, transport, buildings, waste, and biodiversity, and (4) Innovations and reforms needed to promote co-benefits in cities. The discussions are based on empirical research conducted in Indian cities and aligned with the international discourse on the 2030 UN Development Agenda and New Urban Agenda created at the UN-Habitat III in 2016. The analyses and recommendations in this volume are of considerable interest to policy experts, scholars and researchers of urban and regional studies, geography, public policy, international development/law, economics, development planning, environmental planning, climate change, energy studies, and so on.

A smart city uses technology to provide services and solve problems to improve urban policy efficiency, reduce waste, improve quality of life, and maximize social inclusion. By 2050, 66% of the world’s population is expected to be urban, which is a key driver of a global trend toward the creation of smart cities. This trend creates many opportunities for urban planning committees to learn how to design, modernize, and operate smart cities intelligently and effectively. Facets of a Smart City: Computational and Experimental Techniques for Sustainable Urban Development is a collection of topics that are relevant to the design of a smart city. This book aims to complement technical journal articles that require advanced knowledge of the subject of smart cities and applications for readers. It aims to bridge knowledge gaps in sustainable urban design by providing background information via case studies to facilitate students, recent graduates and new practitioners in urban design and planning. Key Features: - This book features 9 chapters that cover 6 major domains, which include (i) information modelling, (ii) internet of things, (iii) intelligent transportation systems, (iv) water supply, (v) waste management and (vi) sustainable environment - Computational techniques are included in the book. These include artificial neural networks, stochastic models, particle swarm optimization, machine learning, and adaptive neuro-fuzzy Inference systems. - Goals of case studies presented in this book use computational techniques to offer readers examples of supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement learning strategies in the context of smart city applications - References are provided for further reading

The mushrooming of illegal housing on the periphery of cities is one of the main consequences of rapid urbanisation associated with social and environmental problems in the developing countries. Sustainable Urbanism in Developing Countries discusses the linkage between urbanism and sustainability and how sustainable urbanism can be implemented to overcome the problems of housing and living conditions in urban areas. Through case studies from India, Indonesia, China, etc., using advanced GIS techniques, this book analyses several planning and design criteria to solve the physical, social, and economic problems of urbanisation and refers to urban planning as an effective measure to protect and promote the cultural characteristics of specific locations in these developing countries. FEATURES Investigates an interdisciplinary approach to urbanism, including urban ecology, ecosystem services, sustainable landscapes, and advanced geographical systems Analyses unique case studies of rapid urbanisation from a local to a national scale in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, China, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia and their global impact Examines the use of GIS and spatial statistics in analysing urban sprawl and the massive amount of data gathered by every operational activity of municipalities Focuses on the holistic perspective of sustainable urbanism and the harmony in the human–nature relationship to achieve sustainable development Covers a wide range of issues manifested in urban areas with economic, societal, and environmental implications contributed by leading scholars from the Global South

This book reviews the structure, applications, technologies, governance, environmental sustainability, smart communities, gender space and other issues related to smart cities. The book is divided into four parts. The first one entails the conceptual background, growth and development. The second part presents diverse issues on smart cities in terms of environmental sustainability, the role of the community, and gender space, among others. The third part revolves around economic and technological issues, and the fourth is a compilation of case studies in connection with smart cities. This collection of diverse issues from different locations presents a holistic view of smart cities contributed by authors who have undertaken research projects and implemented their own unique perspectives and methods. A variety of innovative concepts such as digital governance, polycentric structures, geodata repositories, geoweb services and advanced geospatial technologies in smart city planning, urban microclimatic parameters, and urban heat islands provide invaluable knowledge for researchers and practitioners in these fields.