โ Scribed by Mark Pelling
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Cities by DAVID SATTERTHWAITE (ed). (Earthscan, London, 1999, pp. 478, ยฃ16.95 p/bk) Compiling a reader on sustainable cities' is a worthy challenge indeed! The ยฎeld has diverse roots, many sectoral concerns and divergent theoretical leanings supported by a burgeoning array of case study data. The title alone, sustainable cities', is ripe for challenge. What is to be sustained? Economic growth or poverty? Natural capital or human health? Where do we draw the lines around a city? Is it a physical unit? An administrative jurisdiction? Or a hub of energy and material ยฏows? Satterthwaite addresses many of these contradictory elements of sustainable development for cities in a framing introductory chapter. He argues for an understanding of urban sustainability that places emphasis on meeting human needs and keeping intact environmental capital and for an approach that is geographically inclusive (talking to the global South and North). The inclusive approach is also reยฏected in a desire to place the sustainable cities literature in a broader context of sustainable development. This forms the basis for the book's organization, which starts with discussions on sustainable development and then moves through sectoral concerns to focus on management dilemmas. Following an introduction the four subsequent parts are: linking sustainable development and cities, different sectoral programmes that contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals in cities, seeking action at city level and sustainable development for cities within a regional, national and global context.
In addition to setting some parameters for the book and offering some deยฎnitions for key terms, the introductory part includes an essay by William E. Rees. Rees discusses the differing philosophical perspectives to sustainable development and how these can be followed through to material contradictions in the politics and projects that claim to form part of a move towards sustainable urbanisation. The second part links the notion of sustainable development with cities. The four chapters approach this from divergent but complementary perspectives and as a whole this section is one of the strongest contributions to the book. For students new to this topic, the juxtaposition of works which suggest the potential advantages that cities can offer sustainable futures (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements), with those that deconstruct the idea of sustainable development in the city (Haughton), and those that focus on the environmental and poverty dimensions of urban sustainability (Satterthwaite, and McGranahan, Songsore and Kjelle รn) will be especially worthwhile.
Part three of the Reader takes a sectoral approach, with a chapter each devoted to issues of health, transport, manufacturing industry, urban agriculture, urban design, urban planning and waste management. The trap of segregating aspects of urban life according to professional discipline rather than any lived reality is somewhat tempered by the chapters on health (World Health Organisation), urban design (Roelof) and urban planning (Campbell) which offer more holistic views. In part four, the book focuses in on activating material change in the city. It does this through a presentation of experiences with local Agenda 21 from Manizales, Columbia (Vela รsquez) and Peru (Miranda and Hordijk). These are two of the most rewarding chapters ยฑ showing the need for participation and political support from the local to the national if local Agenda 21 is to take hold. This section also presents critical discussion on the formulation and application of indicators for sustainable development in cities. The ยฎnal part seeks to place cities in a national, regional and global context and is restricted to two chapters. The ยฎrst by Herbert Girardet examines the consumption proยฎle (ecological footprint) of London and through this discusses the implications for urban-bound activity not only on the urban region but also on the wider global environment. The second chapter by Hardoy, Mitlin and Satterthwaite draws on examples from Africa, Asia and Latin America to discuss the environmental externalities of the urban metabolism.
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