Sustainable Urban Transformation Research Articles

Green-Sighted but City-Blind: Developer Attitudes to Sustainable Urban Transformation

South Africa's sprawling, fragmented urban form remains essentially intact, despite the inequitable consequences and resource inefficiencies. Government policies have advocated urban integration-compaction for two decades, in the face of inertia and resistance from vested interests. This paper investigates the attitudes of developers towards the principles of sustainable urban transformation. Developers tend to favour a narrow agenda of new green buildings over more environmentally significant brown- field re-development and refurbished buildings. While they recognise the need for higher-density, mixed-use schemes within existing built-up areas, most remain reluctant to get directly involved themselves because of the perceived risks and uncertainties. Yet, several niche developers are breaking the mould and beginning to challenge such assumptions about the potential for profitable investment in hitherto neglected areas.

Improving urban metabolism study for sustainable urban transformation

Abstract It is important understanding urbanization where residents outside of the area come into the urbanized region. Urbanized area is the one facing more environmental problems because of intensive population density amplifying more damage to the environment. This paper targets China’s rapid urbanization and discusses research and policy needs in the field of sustainable urbanization. We discuss research needs for metabolism studies for sustainability of cities, major driving forces in the context of urbanization, and knowledge integration through stakeholder engagement.

Integrating resilience with urban sustainability in neglected neighborhoods: Challenges and opportunities of transitioning to decentralized water management in Mexico City

The impacts of climate change and decreasing local resources are increasingly threatening the resilience and sustainable management of urban areas and infrastructures worldwide. To cope with such threads and vulnerabilities, urban sustainability and resilience oriented plans have been developed. Accordingly, policy makers need to learn how to properly integrate urban sustainability with urban resilience principles and practices in the re-shaping of urban agendas. In order to highlight the future potential of integrating transformative resilience principles into the general sustainability approach, this paper provides a critical review of a recent and successful urban regeneration and development plan, the “Mexico City Green Plan”. This paper also discusses a feasibility study for urban redevelopment and transition towards resilience in Mexico City, in order to illustrate the necessity and potential of urban resilience for the improvement of the life prospects of disadvantaged inhabitant groups. The Valle del Chalco neighborhood in Mexico City is presented as an example, whereby resilient and sustainable urban transformation was achieved through an integrated and sustainable decentralized water management and infrastructure plan. In practice, the terms ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Resilience’ can be exploited to justify conventional, non-sustainable urban development practices. The results discussed in this paper demonstrate the necessity of the integration of transformative resilience principles within sustainable urban redevelopment and regeneration. The main findings are i) Policy makers underestimate the potential of urban resilience in shaping more sustainable urban futures, since they only understand resilience as the flipside of specific vulnerabilities, ii) The building of urban resilience within sustainable urban transitions and redevelopment can effectively foster people empowerment, particularly in combination with the decentralization of resources management systems, and iii) The main challenge for the implementation and execution of transitions processes towards urban resilience and sustainability is the elimination of political barriers.

Transformation of an urban complex system into a more sustainable form via integrated modification methodology (IMM)

Cities are energy-using systems in their own right; they consume energy in varying levels of effi ciency. A city’s form can have a tremendous effect on its energy consumption, as well as its environmental performance. There has been much research and discussion regarding which urban form is sustainable, but lack of constructive methods to improve upon their existing environmental performance. This paper explicates a possible method of sustainable urban transformation design principles. The methodology aims to reform an existing urban assessment into a more sustainable form, regardless to its present form and performance. The research demonstrates how one can transform a city into a lower energy consumption system, using the Integrated Modifi cation Methodology. In this approach, the city is considered as a single entity, a Complex Adaptive System; accordingly, the sustainable urban form emerges through modifi cation of its elements and integration of its subsystems over time.

Planning for climate change in urban areas: from theory to practice

Climate change poses a serious threat to sustainable urban development, placing many cities at risk. As a consequence, city authorities are increasingly facing the challenge of finding ways to include adaptation strategies into their work, although related knowledge and competence is still scarce and fragmented. With the aim to contribute to knowledge development and organizational learning, the objective of this paper is to critically review and compare current theoretical and practical approaches to adaptation planning in cities. In order to do so, first the conceptual characteristics and features of a climate resilient city are identified. Second, the reciprocal linkages between climate-related disasters, urban form and city planning processes are analysed – by considering the life cycle of disasters from causes, to short- and long-term impacts, to post-disaster response and recovery. Finally, urban adaptation measures proposed for both developed and so-called developing countries are assessed. On the basis of the identified differences, gaps and synergies between the theoretical and practical approaches to adaptation planning, the implications for improving sustainable urban transformation are discussed.

Sustainable urban transformation in small cities in Egypt: a UN-habitat perspective

Urban transformation in Egypt is happening in a rapid, unorganized and informal manner. This is causing major environmental degradation problems. There are several significant environmental problems that face many newly transformed urban communities, such as municipal solid waste management, pollution of fresh water bodies, air pollution, noise and degradation of visual landscapes. This paper studies the case of urban transformation in Egypt with a focus on identifying and assessing the existing environmental conditions in Egyptian small cities, which have a population of less than 100,000 inhabitants. The paper analyses possible causes of the identified problems and the challenges that are associated with the urban transformation phenomenon in Egypt. The paper also looks at the linkages between urban planning and environmental management.

Advancing sustainable urban transformation

Despite increased awareness of the urgency to respond to climate change and to promote sustainable development, there are few powerful initiatives that are decisively shifting urban development in a sustainable, resilient and low-carbon direction. This Special Volume of the Journal of Cleaner Production explores sustainable urban transformation focusing on structural transformation processes – multi-dimensional and radical change – that can effectively direct urban development towards ambitious sustainability goals. The 20 articles are based on 35 cases and over 130 surveyed examples of urban initiatives on sustainability in many countries. While cities in Europe dominate, there are also examples from North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The combined articles in this Special Volume contribute to knowledge and understanding on sustainable urban transformation across a range of areas, including governance and planning, innovation and competitiveness, lifestyle and consumption, resource management and climate mitigation and adaptation, transport and accessibility, buildings, and the spatial environment and public space. Overall, this Special Volume documents and analyses real-life action in cities and communities around the world to respond to sustainability challenges and it provides critical insights into how to catalyse, intensify and accelerate sustainable urban transformation globally. A main finding of the articles is that governance and planning are the key leverage points for transformative change.

Reclaiming the commons for urban transformation

This paper investigates how public space can leverage disruptive changes in urban environments which compel sustainable urban transformation. We draw on three recent cases in New York City (Times Square in Manhattan, Jackson Heights in Queens and 596 Acres in Brooklyn), where activation of public space radically changed the function and identify of apparently stable urban systems by giving rise to nascent ‘urban commons’. As healthy commons are indicative of cultural and institutional practices aligned with sustainability, we examine how innovative social and institutional practices can form in urban environments, and compel more sustainable ways of living. Drawing on resilience theory as a framework, our analysis focuses on the contextual conditions and mechanisms that enabled new public spaces to form; the processes by which ‘commons practices’ developed; and the way these urban commons influence urban systems more widely. We find that rigid urban systems can be ‘loosened’ by iteratively prototyping urban interventions (such as temporary street closures). These actions create fertile, low-risk, experimental conditions in which stakeholders can cultivate and consolidate shared resources and custodial commons practices. The formation of these ‘communities of practice’ is essential for the advocacy and protection of new commons as they begin to scale and challenge dominant urban system configurations. We conclude by describing how urban commons must scale vertically and horizontally within wider urban systems to support transformation towards sustainability. Upon identifying a range of challenges to this process, we suggest that the distributed replication of small public space interventions may offer the most pragmatic path towards promoting and normalising commons practices, as it can seed a groundswell of grassroots social innovation. In turn, these activities may lay the cultural foundations for traditional institutional stakeholders and urban authorities to play a more progressive and enabling role in urban transformation.

Transforming urban waste into sustainable material and energy usage: the case of Greater Manchester (UK)

Abstract Networked infrastructures such as waste, energy, water and transport are integral to sustainable urban transformation. They are closely linked to urban growth and underpin the economic, social and environmental performance of modern cities. At the same time places shape the transformation of such complex infrastructural systems. Effective waste management contributes significantly to public health, environmental sustainability and economic development and it is an inherently urban challenge. Combining insights from urban studies with research on ‘systems innovation’ and ‘sustainable transitions’, this paper deals with a transformation towards a more sustainable waste management system in an urban setting. More specifically, the paper describes how Greater Manchester (UK) underwent a transformation from a relatively simple landfill model to a highly complex, multi-technology waste solution based on intensive recycling and composting, and sustainable energy usage. The case is relevant because the UK has long been seen as a laggard when it comes to sustainable waste practices. The 1999 EU landfill directive exerted great pressure to change waste practices in the UK. Against the national trend of incineration with energy recovery, Greater Manchester opted instead for a solution that was deemed more innovative and sustainable, but which involved overcoming significant technological, political and financial challenges. The paper investigates the process that led to this purposive transformation, characterized by a mix of political vision, stakeholder engagement, economies of scale, and the ability of waste disposal managers to gather expertise, resources, political influence and commitment at multiple levels of governance.

Rural islam and change: Case study: Cholistan

This paper investigates how public space can leverage disruptive changes in urban environments which compel sustainable urban transformation. We draw on three recent cases in New York City (Times Square in Manhattan, Jackson Heights in Queens and 596 Acres in Brooklyn), where activation of public space radically changed the function and identify of apparently stable urban systems by giving rise to nascent ‘urban commons’. As healthy commons are indicative of cultural and institutional practices aligned with sustainability, we examine how innovative social and institutional practices can form in urban environments, and compel more sustainable ways of living. Drawing on resilience theory as a framework, our analysis focuses on the contextual conditions and mechanisms that enabled new public spaces to form; the processes by which ‘commons practices’ developed; and the way these urban commons influence urban systems more widely. We find that rigid urban systems can be ‘loosened’ by iteratively prototyping urban interventions (such as temporary street closures). These actions create fertile, low-risk, experimental conditions in which stakeholders can cultivate and consolidate shared resources and custodial commons practices. The formation of these ‘communities of practice’ is essential for the advocacy and protection of new commons as they begin to scale and challenge dominant urban system configurations. We conclude by describing how urban commons must scale vertically and horizontally within wider urban systems to support transformation towards sustainability. Upon identifying a range of challenges to this process, we suggest that the distributed replication of small public space interventions may offer the most pragmatic path towards promoting and normalising commons practices, as it can seed a groundswell of grassroots social innovation. In turn, these activities may lay the cultural foundations for traditional institutional stakeholders and urban authorities to play a more progressive and enabling role in urban transformation.