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The third volume of the Sustainable Urban Development Series outlines the BEQUEST toolkit that helps link protocol with the assessment methods currently available for evaluating the sustainability of urban development. It details the decision support mechanisms developed for users of the system to guide them in selecting the appropriate assessment methods for a variety of evaluations. This book provides case studies drawn from locations across Europe, and also provides best practice examples demonstrating those protocols that planners, property developers and design and construction professionals have followed, and how they have selected the assessment methods they need to best evaluate the sustainability of cities, districts, neighbourhoods and buildings.
Evaluation is a critical stage in urban and regional planning and development, with the consideration of alternative proposals essential for informed debate and decision. Evaluation in planning has become even more important with the new paradigm attempting to integrate economic efficiency with equity, sustainability and social responsibility. The craft of pre-development evaluation has long been influenced by Nathaniel Lichfield, and in his honour, this book brings together prominent researchers and practitioners to discuss evaluation in planning: its conceptual foundations and subsequent development, its strengths and persisting dilemmas, and its best practices and their potential for improving future planning and development. The chapters trace evaluation in planning from its historical origin to current applications. Part one reviews the evolution of evaluation theory and practice, and part two contains a selection of best-practice application. The final integrating chapter notes key problems, and offers directions for future development in evaluation research and practice.
In this book, the second of a three-volume series, leading authorities on the methodology of environmental assessment provide a unique insight into questions of critical importance to sustainable urban development. Using the framework and protocols set out in Volume 1, Volume 2 examines how well the environmental assessment methods evaluate the ecological integrity of urban development and equity of the resulting resource distribution. The examination focuses on: the instruments of environmental assessment approaches to environmental assessment based in systems-thinking methods for environmental, economic and social assessments their use in evaluating the sustainability of urban development. The Sustainable Urban Development Series contains the research and debate of the BEQUEST (Building, Environmental Quality Evaluation for Sustainability) network funded by the European Commission. Together the books provide a framework, set of protocols, environmental assessment methods and toolkit for policy makers, academics, professionals and advanced level students in urban planning and studies, as well as other areas of the built environment.
This second title of a three-volume series based on research by the influential BEQUEST network examines the methodology of environmental assessment, providing unique insight into critical aspects to sustainable urban development.
Based on original research, this first volume of a set of groundbreaking new books sets out a framework for analyzing sustainable urban development and develops a set of protocols for evaluating the sustainability of urban development.Protocols included are for sustainable urban planning, urban property development, urban design, the construction, operation and use of buildings. Using these protocols, the book goes on to provide a directory of environmental assessment methods for evaluating the sustainability of urban development and also maps out how these assessment methods are bei.
Cities in Transition focuses on the sustainability transitions initiated in 40 European cities. The book presents the incredible wealth of insights gathered through hundreds of interviews and questionnaires. Four key domains—local energy systems, local green spaces, local water systems and local labour markets—have been the focus of the field research investigating local potentials for social innovation and new forms of civil society self-organisation. Examining the potential of new organizational frameworks like co-operatives, multi-stakeholder constructions, local-regional partnerships and networks for the success of such transitions, this book presents the key ingredients of a sustainable urban community as a viable concept to address current global financial, environmental and social challenges. Crucial reading for academics and practitioners of urban planning and sustainability in Europe, Cities in Transition is an innovative roadmap for sustainability in changing cities.
The role of railways in urban development is the subject of this book. The central aim is to inquire into how especially the development of high-speed rail and light rail links will affect European cities. The analyses are carried out with special attention given to the broader institutional environment of the railway system, including the shift toward privatised railway companies and internationalisation.
A first-class work of reference that will be both an essential resource for independent study as well as a useful aid in teaching: a solid but also provocative starting point for wider exploration of the city.
Windpower is a modular technology, and compared to most other power plants also rather small scale. Wind turbines are installed to the distribution grid, which is called distributed generation. Ownership and revenues can be distributed as well, using the right ownership models. Several different ownership models, used in different countries, like windpower cooperatives, local limited companies, net-accounting models etc. are described. These models can be used to make windpower become community power, and/or consumer owned power, and produce power for these owners at cost price. To wait for the international community to agree on international treaties to create a renewable energy system, takes too long. The climate disaster will inevitably happen. To speed up the transition to a renewable energy system, development has to come from below, from local communities, which can initiate and invest in windpower and other renewables. At the same time to get off from the oligopolistic electric power market and produce power at cost price is a good business.
Securing the future of the human race will require an improved understanding of the environment as well as of technological solutions, mindsets and behaviors in line with modes of development that the ecosphere of our planet can support. Some experts see the only solution in a global deflation of the currently unsustainable exploitation of resources. However, sustainable development offers an approach that would be practical to fuse with the managerial strategies and assessment tools for policy and decision makers at the regional planning level. Environmentalists, architects, engineers, policy makers and economists will have to work together in order to ensure that planning and development can meet our society's present needs without compromising the security of future generations. Better planning methods for urban and rural expansion could prevent environmental destruction and imminent crises. Energy, transport, water, environment and food production systems should aim for self-sufficiency and not the rapid depletion of natural resources. Planning for sustainable development must overcome many complex technical and social issues.