The Sustainable City - 2nd Edition by Steven Cohen & Dong Guo (Paperback)

About the Book

The Sustainable City provides a broad and engaging overview of the urban systems of the twenty-first century. This second edition dives deeper into the financing of sustainable infrastructure, reviews current trends in urban inequality, and features many more examples and new international case studies spanning the globe.

Book Synopsis

Living sustainably is not just about preserving the wilderness or keeping nature pristine. The transition to a green economy depends on cities. Economic, technological, and cultural forces are moving people out of rural areas and into urban areas. If we are to avert climate catastrophe, we will need our cities to coexist with nature without destroying it. Urbanization holds the key to long-term sustainability, reducing per capita environmental impacts while improving economic prosperity and social inclusion for current and future generations.

The Sustainable City provides a broad and engaging overview of the urban systems of the twenty-first century. It approaches urban sustainability from the perspectives of behavioral change, organizational management, and public policy, looking at case studies of existing legislation, programs, and public-private partnerships that strive to align modern urban life and sustainability. The book synthesizes the disparate strands of sustainable city planning in an approachable and applicable guide that highlights how these issues touch our lives on a daily basis, including the transportation we take, the public health systems that protect us, where our energy comes from, and what becomes of our food waste.

This second edition of The Sustainable City dives deeper into the financing of sustainable infrastructure and initiatives and puts additional emphasis on the roles that individual citizens and varied stakeholders can play. It also reviews current trends in urban inequality and discusses whether a model of sustainability that embraces a multidimensional approach to development and a multistakeholder approach to decision making can foster social inclusion. It features many more examples and new international case studies spanning the globe.

Review Quotes

In this improved and expanded second edition of The Sustainable City, Steven Cohen and Guo Dong explore how enduring and successful cities hold the key to global sustainability. Infused with optimism and backed up with forceful arguments, this book provides a much needed policy perspective as to why, how, and to what effect cities have mobilized to build sustainably.

--Peter J. Marcotullio, director of the Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College

This book shows us how the great cities of the twenty-first century can use sustainable methods to thrive economically while simultaneously providing a higher quality of life for their residents. A must-read for current and future leaders in a rapidly urbanizing world.--William Eimicke, Columbia University

About the Author

Steven Cohen is senior vice dean of the School of Professional Studies and professor in the practice of public affairs in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is also director of the Earth Institute's Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management as well as two other masters' programs at Columbia University.

Dong Guo is an associate research scholar and associate director of the Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management at Columbia University's Earth Institute. He is also an adjunct assistant professor in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.