e-book

Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities

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We have entered the Anthropocene – an era when humans are a dominant geological
force – and at the same time we have entered an Urban Age. 1 Over half of humanity
now lives in towns and cities, and by 2030 that fraction will have increased to 60 %.
In other words, in slightly over two decades, from 2010 to 2030, another one and an
half billion people will be added to the population of cities.

Creating healthy, habitable, urban living spaces for so many more people will be
one of the defi ning challenges of our time. And the quality of city environments –
both their built and natural components – will determine the quality of life for an
estimated total of fi ve billion existing and new urban dwellers by 2030.
Much of what gets written about the challenges of urbanization tends to be about
built city infrastructure and its organization and governance: about transportation
systems, housing, water works, sanitation, slums – the hardware of cities. Less is
written about the software of cities as centers of creativity and lifestyle, of culture
and learning institutions that enable the creation of pools of human capital, which
gather critical mass and become drivers of innovation and prosperity. And even less
is written about the ecological infrastructure of cities: parks, gardens, open spaces,
water catchment areas, and generally their ecosystems and biodiversity. This book
Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities
and the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook project (CBO) addresses that gap admirably.
It brings out clearly the importance of nature for cities, making a convincing
case for internalizing ecosystem services in urban policy making.

The book not only quantifi es but also lays out the complex linkages between
ecosystem services and urbanization, giving us detailed case studies of cities that
have used an ecosystem services approach, either explicitly or implicitly, in urban
planning in order to address the many challenges that urbanization poses.

The problems caused by urbanization are enormous and varied. Over the last
century, the migration of hundreds of millions of people from rural to urban areas in
search of employment and better living conditions has not been a smooth transition.
Millions have been left to live for prolonged periods in makeshift urban slums, suffering
from poverty of income, health, nutrition, and safety. Constant threats of food
and water scarcity have been brought about by climate change, unsustainable
resource use, and inadequate planning. Cities are increasingly unsustainable, vulnerable
and insecure, and therefore achieving sustainability and resilience for cities
has to be high on any government’s agenda. To support this necessary and important
focus, the book delivers key messages to policy makers and showcases many
instances of smart urban planning that have made use of nature and its services to
alleviate or solve some of these problems. In the process, this book redefi nes cities
from being centers of economic growth and consumption to places generating
human well-being and even creating positive externalities.

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Ketersediaan

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Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

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Penerbit

New York : Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York., 2013

Deskripsi Fisik

v, 407 Hlm.

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

978-94-007-7088-1

Klasifikasi

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

BIOLOGI
BIODIVERSITAS
URBANISASI

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

agus

Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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