How we can invent--but not predict--the future of cities. We cannot predict future cities, but we can invent them. Cities are largely unpredictable because they are complex systems that are more like organisms than machines. Neither the laws of economics nor the laws of mechanics apply; cities are the product of countless individual and collective decisions that do not conform to any grand plan…
"Mercury offers an opportunity to trace a millennial-scale history of human interactions with an element whose use has both benefited and harmed human well-being in complex and interacting ways. The book develops and applies an analytical framework using the perspective of a human-technical-environmental system to learn from the long history of human mercury use and exposure, and to inform stra…
Governance challenges and solutions for the provision of global public goods in such areas as the environment, food security, and development.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
In this book, experts discuss the multiple components of sustainability, the constraints imposed by their linkages, and the necessity of taking a comprehensive view.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
Analyzes the extent to which foreign investment in Mexico's information technology sector brought economic, social, and environmental benefits to Guadalajara.Foreign investment has been widely perceived as a panacea for developing countries--as a way to reduce poverty and kick-start sustainable modern industries. The Enclave Economy calls this prescription into question, showing that Mexico's p…
Activists, analysts, and practitioners describe innovative strategies that promote healthy neighborhoods, fair housing, and accessible transportation throughout America's cities and suburbs.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
McDonald's promises to use only beef, coffee, fish, chicken, and cooking oil obtained from sustainable sources. Coca-Cola promises to achieve water neutrality. Unilever has set a deadline of 2020 to reach 100 percent sustainable agricultural sourcing. Walmart has pledged to become carbon neutral. Today, big-brand companies seem to be making commitments that go beyond the usual "greenwashing" ef…
How the sustainability movement has been co-opted: from ecobranding by Wal-Mart to the "greening" of the American military.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
This volume of comparative studies documents the continuing relevance of the state in environmental politics and policy. The book also demonstrates the analytical power of the comparative approach to the study of environmental politics and policy, offering cross-national comparisons of environmental governance in both developed and developing countries. Some chapters are based on qualitative st…
Today at least twenty-five major U.S. cities have pursued some form of sustainability initiative. Although many case studies and "how-to" manuals have been published, there has been little systematic comparison of these cities' programs and initiatives. In this book Kent Portney lays the theoretical groundwork for research on what works and what does not, and why. Distinguishing cities on the b…