This text addresses the difficulties of balancing the imperatives of sustainability with the pressing challenges facing some of the world's most underdeveloped areas. Various perspectives are brought to bear on issues from economics and theories of health through to the foundations of sustainability. All the key contemporary developments are dealt with; the growth in international law and agreements on controlling greenhouse gases; the effect of reforms in finance, governance and methods of appraisal on the areas of waste management; and the theoretical advances in the community development aspects of health and the neighbourhood environment guided by the experiences of the World Bank, WHO and UNEP. The text is intended as a guidebook for those responsible for re-shaping cities in the 21st century.

The 1992 Rio Summit and subsequent literature and debate has focused on 'green' issues such as biodiversity, climate change and marine pollution. Much less has been written concerning the 'brown' agenda: factors such as poor sanitation and water quality, air pollution and housing problems which are particularly prevalent in Third World cities. Sustainability, the Environment and Urbanisation provides a comprehensive overview of the brown agenda, with case studies and examples from a number of Southern countries. It looks at the broad economic context behind the problems and covers the conceptual issues of sustainability, infrastructure and health programmes, as well as assessing environmental appraisal methods. Clearly written, with contributions from some of the leading experts in the field, the book will appeal to students on environmental and developmental courses, researchers, and all those concerned with the 'healthy cities' movement.

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 volume provides a comprehensive overview of the interactions and feedbacks between urbanization and global environmental change. A key focus is the examination of how urbanization influences global environmental change, and how global environmental change in turn influences urbanization processes. It has four thematic foci: Theme 1 addresses the pathways through which urbanization drives global environmental change. Theme 2 addresses the pathways through which global environmental change affects the urban system. Theme 3 addresses the interactions and responses within the urban system in response to global environmental change. Theme 4 centers on critical emerging research.

First Published in 2004. Environment, Growth and Development offers a unique analysis of sustainable economic growth and development and the implications for policy and planning at the local, national and global scale.

Climate change knows no boundaries and its cost must be borne by all earthlings. While the technologically advanced and developed countries are better prepared for responding to climate change, it is the developing countries that are the most vulnerable to climate change impacts because they have fewer resources to adapt politically, socially, technologically and financially. Climate change is, thus, a matter of moral and cultural ethics. Climate change adaptation methods need to accommodate traditional environmental knowledge and practices of different indigenous cultures. This book explores the ability to concerted global action and mechanisms to enable developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change that are happening now and which will worsen in the future.

According to UN estimates, approximately nearly half of the world's population now lives in cities and that figure is expected to rise to almost 70% by 2050. Cities now account for around 70% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, and this percentage is predicted to rise in the near future as a result of projected increases in global urbanization patterns. It is widely acknowledged that irrational urban planning and design can increase emissions while also exacerbating threats and risks, resulting in a slew of environmental issues such as urban heat islands, air pollution, flooding, amongst other issues, as well as environmental, social, and economic losses. Therefore, these concerns must be addressed promptly in order to cope up with these rising difficulties and make urban environments safer for residents. With the advancement of remote sensing technology and the use of current remote observation systems, urban data science, remote sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI), modeling and quantifying emergent difficulties in urban regions and urban systems have become easy. They aid in the quantitative analysis of urban shape, functions, and human behavior in cities. Harvesting data, developing models, and suggesting new methodologies will be aided by combining urban ecology with new breakthroughs in data science. This book is of great value to a diverse group of academicians, scientists, students, environmentalists, meteorologists, urban planners, remote sensing and GIS experts with a common interest in geospatial sciences within the earth environmental sciences, as well as human and social sciences.