Green CITYnomics:
The Urban War against Climate Change
Edited by Kenny Tang
http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=2922
Announcing the publication on 28 October 2009 of “Green CITYnomics:
The Urban War against Climate Change” – a compelling manifesto for the world’s cities. Order online from Greenleaf and receive a 10% discount.
http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/add_getquantity.kmod?productid=2922
List price: GBP35.00 / EUR47.50 / USD65.00 (not including postage and packing).
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Green CITYnomics: The Urban War against Climate Change Edited by Kenny Tang
320 pp | 234 x 156 mm | hardrback | ISBN 978-1-906093-22-8 | Published
28 October 2009
List price: GBP35.00 EUR47.50 USD65.00
You can also request a review copy
http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/requesttitles.asp?type=reviewcopies&add=2922
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Today, more than half of the world’s population are living in cities that are now contributing 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. They cover less than 3% of the earth’s surface. And urbanisation continues apace.
With such a massive carbon footprint, it is clearly vital that cities are part of the solution. And, from another perspective, the sheer concentration of people, resources and economic activities in urban centres will only serve to magnify city-dwellers’ vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Despite this, to date scarcely any consideration has been given to the potential impact of climate change on urban dwellers, especially in the developing countries and burgeoning megacities of Africa, Asia and Latin America, where a wide variety of environmental and development challenges are likely to further exacerbate their vulnerability to climatic effects.
Such population concentrations mean local decision-makers have both an opportunity and obligation to construct climate-resilient infrastructures, create climate-friendly livelihoods and develop urban systems that ensure better air quality, water, transport and health services for all who live in them. Environmental liabilities need to be transformed into sustainable assets.
“Green CITYnomics: The Urban War against Climate Change” presents a rich set of contributions by a highly diverse group of 45 of the world’s leading urban experts on climate change. In particular, it illustrates the desire some cities are already demonstrating in engaging in this war. Standing still is not an option. Budgets have to be fought for; minds have to be won over; old, untenable and unsustainable ideas and solutions must be challenged; green and sustainable solutions must be given the chance to develop and to prove themselves.
The book is organised into four sections. First, contributors discuss the challenges of making an integrated assessment of the impact of climate change in our urban centres. Second, the book examines the options and challenges for policy-makers. Third, specific aspects of health, air quality, land use and water supply are examined. Finally, the focus moves to specific aspects of solar heating, urban heat island intensity, building emissions and urban planning education.
Each of the cities and urban centres discussed – from Hong Kong to Dresden; from Mexico City to Qatar – are, in their own ways, heroes and examples to us all. This book provides a compelling manifesto for the world’s cities in their ‘Urban War against Climate Change’. It will be essential reading for climate scientists, national and local policy-makers and scholars worldwide.
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CONTENTS
Foreword
Chris Walker, Special Advisor and former Director (Chief Executive) for North America, The °Climate Group
Preface and acknowledgements
Kenny Tang, Oxbridge Capital, UK
Section 1: Introduction
1. Introduction to Green CITYnomics: the urban war against climate change Kenny Tang, Oxbridge Capital, UK
2. Climate change: a tipping point for a move towards sustainable development?
Tania Katzschner and Gregg Oelofse, University of Cape Town, South Africa
3. A blueprint for the integrated assessment of climate change in cities R.J. Dawson, Newcastle University, UK, et al.
Section 2: Policy-making and CO2 management systems
4. Climate change impacts and responses: Hong Kong’s vulnerable environment, infrastructure and economy Alexandra Tracy, Christine Loh and Andrew Stevenson, Civic Exchange, Hong Kong
5. Municipal Adaptation Planning: a city-based framework for climate change adaptation Pierre Mukheibir and Gina Ziervogel, Wannon Water Regional Authority, Australia, and University of Cape Town, South Africa
6. Climate change and policy-making in the Baltic Sea region Walter Leal and Franziska Mannke, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany
7. Developing a CO2 management system for public authorities Edeltraud Guenther and Julia Friedemann, Technische Universitaet Dresden, Germany
Section 3: Health, air quality, transport, land use and water
8. Urban local governments and human health in a climate of change Scott Baum, Katrin Lowe and Stephen Horton, Griffith University, Australia
9. Better urban air quality and the Clean Development Mechanism:
bringing together local and global interests Steffan Bakker, Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, Natalia Caldes and Maryse Labriet, Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas, Spain, Thierry Lefevre and Jessie Todoc, Centre for Energy and Environment Resources Development, Thailand, and Lin Leteng, Energy Research Institute of the Shandong Academy of Science, China
10. Climate change and unsustainable land uses: the case of repetitive loss properties Charles T. Schartung and David Simpson, University of Louisville, USA
11. The contribution of water supply systems to climate change Nalanie Mithraratne, Land Care Research, New Zealand
Section 4: Solar heating, urban heat island, buildings and urban planning education
12. Environmental solar heating standard: a GHG mitigation policy in Mexico City Claudia Scheinbaum, National Autonomous University of Mexico
13. A Study of urban heat island intensity: the case of Doha N.V. Sasidharan, P. Govinda Rao, Qatar Aeronautical College, and Ali Hamed Al-Mulla, Qatar Petroleum
14. Emissions trading: a building block to the climate change solution?
Sara Hayes, Teigland-Hunt Associates LLP, USA
15. Climate change, peak oil and new curricula in urban planning education Rafael Pizzarro, The University of Sydney, Australia
