Sustainability, Urban

Abstract

This article provides a critical introduction to the idea of urban sustainability. Analysis charts the origins of sustainable urban development within various national and international arenas. In addition to positioning urban sustainability within an historical context, however, this article is primarily devoted to excavating the geographical dimensions of the sustainable metropolis. It argues that urban sustainability is an inherently geographical notion, suggesting as it does a sensibility to key geographical themes which include the organization of social and economic space; the regulation of socionatural relations; and the scales of interdependency which connect different social and ecological systems. While exploring the links between geography and urban sustainability particular attention is given to the impacts which sustainable thinking has had on urban geography, and to the role which urban geographers have played in informing how urban sustainability is understood and implemented. In charting these complex interrelationships, this article introduces the notions of relational space, urban locality, and integrated planning as key concepts that connect urban geography with work on urban sustainability. The conceptual dimensions of this article are supported by two case studies of sustainable urban development in practice. The first case study focuses on the example of the Greenwich Millennium Village in London, the second considers the city of Ibadan in Nigeria.