The Iron Curtain, running from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, divided Europe for almost 40 years and no activity was allowed in this "forbidden" zone. When it fell in 1989, it left a strip of land that runs the entire length of Europe and that has remained comparatively undisturbed - a green belt. The Green Belt initiative aims to integrate this entire strip of land with its key habitats and ecological areas as part of an international network of valuable ecosystems. This book provides background information on the initiative, reviews current activities in a number of case studies and looks at how the initiative can fit into current and future global efforts to protect European biodiversity.

Today, the environment seems omnipresent in European policy within and beyond the European Union. The idea of a shared European environment, however, has come a long way and is still being contested. Greening Europe focuses on the many ways people have interacted with nature and made it an issue of European concern. The authors ask how notions of Europe mattered in these activities and they expose the many entanglements of activists across the subcontinent who set out to connect and network, and to exchange knowledge, worldviews, and strategies that exceeded their national horizons. Moving beyond human agency, the handbook also highlights the eminent role nature played in both "greening" Europe and making Europe a shared environment.

Recent years have seen sustained public debate and controversy over the 'greening' of European cities, associated with the environmental movement, pressures of urban redevelopment, and the promotional strategies of cities competing in a global market. But the European debate over urban green space has a long history dating back to Victorian concerns for the 'green lungs' of the city to combat the health and social problems caused by rapid population and industrial growth. This book explores the multiplicity of green space developments in the modern city - ranging over parks and commons, garden suburbs and the cities in the park, allotment gardens, green belts and national urban parks. It is concerned not only with the different types of green space but the many influences shaping their evolution, from international planning ideas, to the rise of modern-day sport and leisure, and the effects of the transport revolution. No less vital in this story is the interaction of the many actors involved in the often fractious political process of creating green spaces - architects and planners, politicians, developers and other businessmen, NGOs and local residents. This volume is particularly concerned with contexts: how international planning ideas are transmitted and adapted in different European cities; how the construction of green space is affected by local power structures and relationships; and how ordinary people perceive and use green spaces, quite often at variance with official designs. The European City and Green Space looks at these and other issues through the prism of four metropoles - London, Stockholm, Helsinki and St Petersburg. All represent different types of North European city, yet each has experienced distinctive economic, political and cultural trajectories, whilst also facing powerful challenges and problems of similar kinds with regard to green space. This volume examines how each has responded to them and what patterns emerge.

This book addresses the highly differentiated spatial, social, cultural and demographic structure(s) of Germany, with a particular focus on the reciprocal relations between different levels of spatial development. The historical development of Germany serves as a background in order to provide context for the development of spatially relevant ideas and ideals (whether in relation to politics, landscape, or culture). In this regard, questions of divergence and convergence become highly salient. The book makes the complexity of spatial and social developments in Germany comprehensible. The neopragmatic approach adopted here allows bringing together different theoretical strands while providing a basis for independent regional geographic research at the same time. Beginning with an overview of the physical structures of Germany which provides the material point of departure for the societal development of Germany, key aspects of the German history are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the reciprocal influence between material substrate and notions of landscape. Here, specific ‘German’ trajectories of aesthetic and normative conceptions of landscape become clear. A common theme throughout the book are questions of divergence and of efforts towards convergence, which become evident when considering past and present economic, political, and demographic developments. Efforts to tackle current challenges, such as adapting to climate change and mitigating it, or securing raw materials, also become apparent. The complexity of spatial processes in Germany is illustrated in case study regions dealing with the challenges of structural change in traditional industrial regions (such as the Ruhr area), or e.g. efforts of Berlin to position and find itself as the capital of a unified Germany. Overall, the book shows how theory-driven regional geographic research can make spatiotemporal complexities tangible and comprehensible.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the interaction between the planning systems and property markets in 17 key European cities.

This book presents the resulting design proposals.

The green belt has been one of the UK’s most consistent and successful planning policies. Over the past century, it has limited urban sprawl and preserved the countryside around our cities, but is it still fit for purpose in a world of unprecedented urban growth and potentially catastrophic climate change? Repurposing the Green Belt in the 21st Century examines the history of the green belt in the UK and how it has influenced planning regimes in other countries. Despite its undoubted achievements, it is time to review the green belt as an instrument of urban planning and landscape design. The problem of the ecological impact of cities and the mitigation measures of major climate changes are at the top of the urban agenda across the world. Urban agriculture, blue and green infrastructures, and forestation are the new ecological design imperatives driving urban policymaking.

An urgent plan to confront climate change, transform the American economy, and create a green post-fossil fuel culture. A new vision for America’s future is quickly gaining momentum. Facing a global emergency, a younger generation is spearheading a national conversation around a Green New Deal and setting the agenda for a bold political movement with the potential to revolutionize society. Millennials, the largest voting bloc in the country, are now leading on the issue of climate change. While the Green New Deal has become a lightning rod in the political sphere, there is a parallel movement emerging within the business community that will shake the very foundation of the global economy in coming years. Key sectors of the economy are fast-decoupling from fossil fuels in favor of ever cheaper solar and wind energies and the new business opportunities and employment that accompany them. New studies are sounding the alarm that trillions of dollars in stranded fossil fuel assets could create a carbon bubble likely to burst by 2028, causing the collapse of the fossil fuel civilization. The marketplace is speaking, and governments will need to adapt if they are to survive and prosper. In The Green New Deal, New York Times bestselling author and renowned economic theorist Jeremy Rifkin delivers the political narrative and economic plan for the Green New Deal that we need at this critical moment in history. The concurrence of a stranded fossil fuel assets bubble and a green political vision opens up the possibility of a massive shift to a post-carbon ecological era, in time to prevent a temperature rise that will tip us over the edge into runaway climate change. With twenty-five years of experience implementing Green New Deal–style transitions for both the European Union and the People’s Republic of China, Rifkin offers his vision for how to transform the global economy and save life on Earth.

Planners internationally have employed green belts to contain the explosive sprawl of cities as varied as Tokyo, Vienna and Melbourne during the twentieth century. As yet, no collection has gathered these experiences together to consider their contribution to planning. Juxtaposing examples of green belt implementation worldwide, this book adds to understanding of how green belts can be effected in theory and how practitioners have adapted them in practice. The book provides a typology of green belt implementation and reform, enabling planners to grasp why these policies are employed and whether they are relevant to twenty-first century planning.

Most of us have heard of green belts – but how much do we really know about them? This book tries to separate the fact from the fiction when it comes to green belts by looking both backwards and forwards. They were introduced in the mid-twentieth century to try and stop cities merging together as they grew. There is little doubt they have been very effective at doing that, but at what cost? Are green belts still the answer to today’s problems of an increasing population and ever higher demands on our natural resources? Green Belts: Past; present; future? reflects upon green belts in the United Kingdom at a time when they have perhaps never been more valued by the public or under more pressure from development. The book begins with a historical study of the development of green belt ideas, policy and practice from the nineteenth century to the present. It discusses the impacts and characteristics of green belts and attempts to reconcile perceptions and reality. By observing examples of green belts and similar policies in other parts of the world, the authors ask what we want green belts to achieve and suggest alternative ways in which that could be done, before looking forward to consider how things might change in the coming years. This book draws together information from a range of sources to present, for the first time, a comprehensive study of green belts in the UK. It reflects upon the gap between perception and reality about green belts, analyses their impacts on rural and urban areas, and questions why they retain such popular support and whether they are still the right solution for the UK and elsewhere. It will be of interest to anyone who is concerned with planning and development and how we can provide the homes, jobs and services we need while protecting our more valuable natural assets.