Nowadays more than half of the world´s population lives in cities. Urbanization is viewed as the primary cause of many problems, but also as the primary stage for more sustainable development in the 21st century. But the increasing and ongoing urbanization changes the economic, social, environmental and political setup of cities and can have several negative impacts related to economic and social inequities and environmental damage. At the same time the global sustainability challenges intensifies. Especially cities need to become more sustainable; they need to abolish their dependence on the unsustainable management of resources like water, energy and food.

The literature attributes a great deal of activity in many UK local authorities to their commitment to the •sustainable development green ideology of the Earth Summit's Agenda 21 action plan for managing our Planet's future. Most studies of this response have focused on behaviour and process, including that of some of the four UK Environment City local authorities, alleged front runners in this field ie. Leicester, Middlesbrough, Leeds and Peterborough. This thesis, however, examines closely the degree of actual political commitment by the leaderships of these local authorities and the effect which the EC Programme has had on them. The assessment of EC leadership commitment is made against the radical assertion that Agenda 21 expects local authorities to lead a major shift of both behaviour and altitude. In part, the assessment relies on a novel use of Schein's (1987) method for uncovering levels of culture in combination with a new typology of political commitment. It is found that actual, as opposed to declared and organisational, ideological commitment is generally weak though varying widely between the local authority leaderships and is strongest in Leicester, the 'lead' Environment City. Explanations are presented for this. From public policy agenda building and implementation theory perspectives, the designation of 'Environment City', itself, is judged to have been effective in influencing behaviour and to a more limited extent, deeper levels of commitment. Theory improvement helps to explain this through several newly defined concepts including those of 'public policy franchising', 'issue wooden horsing' the 'politics of embarrassment' and 'grand mastery'. Other insights into how greater commitment by local authority leaderships is encouraged is drawn from the case studies including the utilized opportunity for greater local governmental power offered by the Agenda 21 role and the existence of environmental 'statesmanship'. Citizens in the Environment Cities are found to be more environmentally positive than has been reported of the UK population at large. Also, local level evidence is presented of the nationally observed positive relationship between our concern for each other as 'welfarism' and our concern for the rest of nature as 'environmentism'.

Yes / The aim of this chapter is to explore how social choice theory and the capability approach can help in clarifying important ethical dilemmas and issues of injustice that need to be addressed for cities to become sustainable cities. Six types of important injustices are identified covering both intra and inter-generational fairness. Some important criticisms of smart cities are considered and important safeguards and policy priorities for smart cities from the social choice and capability approach framings are identified. The main message of this chapter is that sustainability of cities is an ethical issue and not one of technology or measurement and it is all about the six types of injustices and that cities need to tackle all six of these injustices in their quest to become sustainable. Nudging and smart cities can help but these must be contextualised to priorities participation and equality. Social choice theory as formulated by Amartya Sen provides important insights to understand and deal with conflicts between different demands on freedoms of different individuals. / British Academy / The full-text of this book chapter will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 14 Sep 2024.

No description available.

The research paper assesses the local sustainable development work in Sweden. A theoretical framework has been constructed and applied to six Swedish municipalities. The framework is based on a holistic view and incorporates the structural (integration in the municipality, use of a management system), inclusive (involvement of the citizens), analytical (use of sustainable development indicator) and systematic (framework for sustainable development, sustainability policies) perspective of sustainable development work. In particular, the use and implementation of sustainable development indicators was in the research focus. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine the sustainable development work on the local level. The assessment showed that sustainable development work is to a different extent integrated in the municipality. Some municipalities have dedicated teams working with sustainable development, in other municipalities lies the responsibility on the department chefs. Overall, the municipalities try with the resources they have to work at their best for a sustainable future for their municipality. However, there is room for improvement in terms of structural implementation, use of effective tools and involvement of the citizens.

More and more people live in cities, cities that both present opportunities, in terms of potential sustainable growth and challenges, for example regarding insufficient infrastructure and waste management. There are several examples on initiatives to make cities reach their sustainability potential; one is to turn municipal organic waste, MOW, and sewage sludge into biogas and use it to produce electricity and/or heat or to upgrade it to biomethane and use it as a fuel in for example public transport or feed it to a gas grid. This study has focused on the potential and feasibility of producing and using biogas/biomethane as well as the remains from the production process, called digestate, in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. For the most feasible options an indication of the environmental improvement and economic performance was also estimated. The study included biogas produced from municipal organic waste, sewage sludge and methane collected at landfills. For the areas of use, electricity or heat produced from biogas was included as well as using biomethane in public transport or feeding it to the gas grid and to use the digestate as biofertilizer. Since multiple factors needs to be considered in order to adequately assess the potential and feasibility a multi-criteria approach was used for developing a framework based on an early assessment tool for biomethane solutions in the urban context. In summary it is indicated that there are good conditions for biogas production in Chisinau with biogas production from sewage sludge being included in the ongoing rehabilitation of the largest wastewater facility and methane collection from the largest landfill historically being part of the operations and planned (although not confirmed) to soon be part of these again. However, the largest potential is for municipal organic waste where the main impediments relates to financial issues and to some extent legislation that indirectly favour short term landfilling. When investigating the possible use of the digestate as biofertilizer the outlooks are considerably less promising than for the supply side. Despite the fact that the law explicitly allows the use of digestate (both from MOW and sewage sludge) the lack of knowledge within the farmer community result in a low or non-existent customer demand. Regarding the possible use of biogas/biomethane it was concluded that electricity production is the most feasible option and heat generation placing as the second most feasible. Feeding the gas to the grid appears more difficult and the least likely option is for the biogas to be used within public transport. Overall it is in general technically possible to use the gas in terms of infrastructure and there is some demand, especially for electricity and heat. The biggest inhibitory factors are rather institutional since biogas in general is overlooked or not prioritized in the strategies leading to a shortcoming in economical instruments or funds and to some extent in the legislation. This thesis is complemented by an executive summary with the same name, both in English and translated to Romanian.

Um dos principais desafios atuais da humanidade é a sustentabilidade planetária, isto é, os aspectos ambiental, econômico e social da Terra. Estimativas das Nações Unidas apontam que, em 2050, 66% da população mundial será urbana, o que significa que as cidades têm um papel de destaque no desafio de busca da sustentabilidade. Nesse contexto, o objetivo deste trabalho é indicar os critérios, os procedimentos e as práticas necessárias a serem utilizadas para uma cidade se tornar mais sustentável. A literatura mostra a grande amplitude do tema, das definições dos termos e as dificuldades e discussões a respeito do assunto. A partir da revisão da literatura, os Compromissos de Aalborg um guia de dez objetivos a serem seguidos para o alcance de mais sustentabilidade urbana passaram a servir como um norteador de temáticas relevantes relacionadas a cidades mais sustentáveis. Além da revisão bibliográfica, os indicadores de duas iniciativas da sociedade civil, o Programa Cidades Sustentáveis, no Brasil, e a European Sustainable Cities, foram contemplados na discussão. Em seguida, realizou-se um cotejamento entre as abordagens da literatura científica, os indicadores das iniciativas supracitadas e os Compromissos de Aalborg. O resultado foi a identificação de que os Compromissos de Aalborg têm uma correspondência científica e, portanto, possibilitam o estabelecimento de critérios para cidades mais sustentáveis, tornando-se, assim, uma referência para a discussão desse tema / One of the major current challenges of humanity is planetary sustainability in the environmental, economic and social sense. The United Nations estimates that by 2050, 66% of the worlds population will be urban, which means that cities will have a prominent role in reaching global sustainability. It is in this context that this work seeks to identify the key criteria, procedures and practices for cities to become more sustainable. Current literature demonstrates great breadth in the subject. It was found in the literature review that the Aalborg Commitments, a ten commitment guide to urban sustainability, is a guiding source for the achievement of sustainable cities. Indicators from two civil society initiatives, the \"Sustainable Cities Program\" in Brazil, and the \"European Sustainable Cities were also included in the discussion. Next, a comparison was made between the approaches of the scientific literature, the indicators of the two initiatives indicated above, and the Aalborg Commitments. It was found that the Aalborg Commitments have a scientific basis, and thus, allow for the establishment of criteria for more sustainable cities. In this way, the Aalborg Commitments become a reference for the discussion of urban sustainability

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-06-26T12:32:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Mariela E. Toro Gonzalez.pdf: 1655731 bytes, checksum: 5070bcdbf43a4bba182a68ff75b09fcf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-26T12:32:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mariela E. Toro Gonzalez.pdf: 1655731 bytes, checksum: 5070bcdbf43a4bba182a68ff75b09fcf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The notion of sustainability has been widely used by several sectors of the social life without any questioning about its origin and trajectory. In addition, it is now used to define sustainable cities models and urban agendas, operated by urban sustainability consulting firms. In this sense, this study aimed, first of all, to traverse the notion of sustainability, using Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory, from the environmental movements of the 1960s and 1970s, through its systematization by the UN, until its coupling to the economic system. Once coupled with the economic system, the notion of sustainability has become a legitimating mark of sustainable practices and businesses, through the sustainable cities model. In addition, this study aimed to demonstrate how this model is operationalized through the rankings of sustainable cities produced by multinational urban sustainability consulting firm, responsible for providing sustainable services and business destined to cities / A noção de sustentabilidade vem sendo amplamente utilizada por diversos setores da vida social sem que haja qualquer questionamento sobre sua origem e trajetória. Além disso, ela é hoje usada para definir modelos de cidades sustentáveis e agendas urbanas, operacionalizadas por empresas multinacionais de consultoria em sustentabilidade urbana. Nesse sentido, este estudo se propôs, primeiramente, percorrer a trajetória da noção de sustentabilidade, a partir da teoria dos sistemas sociais de Niklas Luhmann, desde os movimentos ambientais dos anos de 1960 e 1970, passando pela sua sistematização pela ONU até seu acoplamento ao sistema econômico. Uma vez acoplada ao sistema econômico, a noção de sustentabilidade passou a constituir-se como uma marca legitimadora de práticas e negócios sustentáveis, por meio do modelo de cidade sustentável. Além disso, este trabalho demonstra como esse modelo é operacionalizado por meio dos rankings de cidades sustentáveis, produzidos por empresas multinacionais de consultoria em sustentabilidade urbana, elas mesmas responsáveis por oferecer serviços e negócios sustentáveis destinados às cidades

Um dos principais desafios atuais da humanidade é a sustentabilidade planetária, isto é, os aspectos ambiental, econômico e social da Terra. Estimativas das Nações Unidas apontam que, em 2050, 66% da população mundial será urbana, o que significa que as cidades têm um papel de destaque no desafio de busca da sustentabilidade. Nesse contexto, o objetivo deste trabalho é indicar os critérios, os procedimentos e as práticas necessárias a serem utilizadas para uma cidade se tornar mais sustentável. A literatura mostra a grande amplitude do tema, das definições dos termos e as dificuldades e discussões a respeito do assunto. A partir da revisão da literatura, os Compromissos de Aalborg um guia de dez objetivos a serem seguidos para o alcance de mais sustentabilidade urbana passaram a servir como um norteador de temáticas relevantes relacionadas a cidades mais sustentáveis. Além da revisão bibliográfica, os indicadores de duas iniciativas da sociedade civil, o Programa Cidades Sustentáveis, no Brasil, e a European Sustainable Cities, foram contemplados na discussão. Em seguida, realizou-se um cotejamento entre as abordagens da literatura científica, os indicadores das iniciativas supracitadas e os Compromissos de Aalborg. O resultado foi a identificação de que os Compromissos de Aalborg têm uma correspondência científica e, portanto, possibilitam o estabelecimento de critérios para cidades mais sustentáveis, tornando-se, assim, uma referência para a discussão desse tema / One of the major current challenges of humanity is planetary sustainability in the environmental, economic and social sense. The United Nations estimates that by 2050, 66% of the worlds population will be urban, which means that cities will have a prominent role in reaching global sustainability. It is in this context that this work seeks to identify the key criteria, procedures and practices for cities to become more sustainable. Current literature demonstrates great breadth in the subject. It was found in the literature review that the Aalborg Commitments, a ten commitment guide to urban sustainability, is a guiding source for the achievement of sustainable cities. Indicators from two civil society initiatives, the \"Sustainable Cities Program\" in Brazil, and the \"European Sustainable Cities were also included in the discussion. Next, a comparison was made between the approaches of the scientific literature, the indicators of the two initiatives indicated above, and the Aalborg Commitments. It was found that the Aalborg Commitments have a scientific basis, and thus, allow for the establishment of criteria for more sustainable cities. In this way, the Aalborg Commitments become a reference for the discussion of urban sustainability

Cities interact with and rely on energy in complex ways. Fundamentally cities rely upon high quality energy and outputs of low quality for their very existence. The energy flows and transformations enabling cities are tied to physical limits imposed by thermodynamics. Understanding of these limits and the relationships among energy and cities, it is revealed herein, is of vital importance to the sustainability of cities. Four contributions to this understanding are provided. The first articulates how the thermodynamic forces driving cities, together with the dynamic environment within which cities reside, stipulates what type of activities within cities are sustainable. Second, a model depicting the scaling relationship between urban energy use and economic output is devised, and it’s fit to historical data demonstrated via nonlinear regression. By differentiating between energy used to grow and energy used to maintain economic output the model illustrates how reductions in these values on a per dollar basis abets growth while the reverse delays growth, or stops it altogether when energy needs for maintenance become too high. Third, an exergy network conceptualization of cities is developed that reveals the structure of the exergy flows in a city. The topology of the network drastically alters the city’s ability to maximize usefulness of imported energy as well as alter that variability in the amount of usefulness extracted. Finally, the resilience of cities with respect to energy is presented by considering the energy storage and buffer capacity of the urban metabolism. The city of Toronto is shown to have adequate flexibility in food and transport fuels to withstand operation for days without undue interruption of typical activities. Together these differing aspects of the open non-equilibrium details of cities establish an improved prescription of the sustainable city.