Paul James: Urban sustainability in theory and practice: Circles of sustainability

Abstract

More than half of the human population lives in cities today, and the trend toward more urbanization continues unabated. Thus, not only the advantages but also the threats of (sometimes chaotic) urbanization processes are obvious. Growth-based productivity and high-technology solutions alone can no longer be the sole keys to the future of cities. A number of attempts, including ‘‘green’’ and ‘‘low carbon’’ cities, have emerged and resurfaced. Yet the conviction grows that a new paradigm that responds to the general demands of sustainable cities combined with local needs is increasingly necessary as advocated by UN-Habitat at the Rio?20 Summit (UN 2012). This book contributes to the conversation about this renewed quest for establishing more sustainable cities for current and future generations. It is structured in three parts. The first part consists of two chapters: ‘‘the global–local scene’’ which describes definitions used in the book and the ‘‘circles of sustainability approach’’ which is the fundamental approach of this book. Further, it structures the sustainability of a city in four domains: ecology, culture, politics and economics. These can be completed according to a nine-point scale ranging from ‘‘critical’’ to ‘‘vibrant’’ sustainability. Part two is about ‘‘understanding social life.’’ It covers three chapters making the ‘‘circles of sustainability’’ method both practically useful and grounded in an interesting analytical foundation. It starts by defining social domains (ecology, economics, politics, and culture) and their interrelations. This is followed by a section on how to map social life at the individual, community and larger scale level. The chapter about ‘‘social meaning’’ addresses how to better understand the subjective dynamics that occur in different social formations. Part three, which I find most interesting, offers an analytical and critical approach to developing methods and tools that contribute movement toward urban sustainability. It is about measuring with (both top-down and bottom-up approaches) and assessing