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The process of modernization, especially during the twentieth century, has brought about dramatic changes in most cities situated on a body of water. The search for efficiency and functionality has profoundly affected coastal and urban landscapes: gigantism in the port industry has contributed to the degradation of environmental resources and habitats, and modernization processes have marginalized local cultures and historical, community-based values, thus causing original features and local specificity to disappear from most of our historical waterfronts. During the last few decades, the restructuring of port and industrial activities, the greater importance of leisure and tourism, and increasing concern for environmental matters have led to the “rediscovery of water” and to the design and implementation of new urban policies aimed at redeveloping urban waterfronts. Against this background, Venice and Tokyo represent paradigmatic cases of the many challenges which confront urban governance in cities on water. In fact, the urban history of these cities is intimately linked to their relationship with water, which has changed over the centuries, creating articulated and complex structures that have characterized their physical aspect, and even the image of the two cities offered to the rest of the world. From this perspective, this volume highlights the most important socio-economic, historical, identitarian, environmental, and cultural dimensions of the process of the “rediscovery of water” in Venice and Tokyo, as well as offering a re-evaluation of their heritage and identity as cities of water. It pays particular attention to the various implications of living in such a fragile and liminal space between land and water, where natural risks and social and economic vulnerability are particularly high.
Like other cities on water, Tokyo and Venice are characterised by intrinsic fragility, resulting from the combined work of the continuous emergence of technological, economic, social, and environmental forces, which affect the urban structure and landscape. Their tangible and intangible (material and immaterial) heritage can play a fundamental role in both maintaining their peculiar maritime identity and defining a future vision for the city. Accordingly, this volume focuses on how the rediscovery of water, from both architectural and cultural points of view, as well as the preservation of the historical and local character of the use of water, can contribute to new forms of resilience. The contributions from scholars, experts, and practitioners in various disciplines – from the social sciences and humanities to architecture and urban planning – that are brought together in this volume help to clarify the basic importance of maintaining and preserving the distinctive identity of two paradigmatic cases of cities on water.
'Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on Reducing Vulnerabilities to Disasters' provides city administrators with exactly what they need to know about the complex and compelling challenges of climate change. The book helps local governments create training, capacity building, and capital investment programs for building sustainable, resilient communities. A step-by-step self-assessment challenges policymakers to think about the resources needed to combat natural disasters through an innovative hot spot risk and vulnerability identifi cation tool. This primer is unique from other resources in its treatment of climate change using a dual-track approach that integrates both mitigation (lowering contributions to greenhouse gases) and adaptation (preparing for impacts of climate change) with disaster risk management. The book is relevant both to cities that are just beginning to think about climate change as well as those that already have well established policies, institutions, and strategies in place. By providing a range of city-level examples of sound practices around the world, the book demonstrates that there are many practical actions that cities can take to build resilience to climate change and natural disasters.
This book presents theoretical and empirical perspectives on platform-mediated tourism, with a special focus on Airbnb. The case studies included in this volume show that the impacts of short-term renting on neighbourhoods, residents and tourism operators are uneven, but increasingly significant. During the past decade, digital platforms for short-term rental, transport, social dining etc., have enabled the development of a new generation of entrepreneurs in tourism and mobility. The mediation of services through digital platforms was initially presented as a form of a sharing economy led by non-professional providers, but it has grown into a new form of capitalist speculation. The inadequacy of existing legal frameworks in regulating platform-mediated activities has generated reactions by social movements, especially for the protection of housing rights. With the outbreak of Covid-19, the downfall in the mobility and tourism economy has revealed the acuteness of the structural crisis of cities and of labour based on platform-mediated activities. In Europe, networks of cities are taking action against platforms to regain their control over data that is needed to regulate platform-mediated tourism services, and the rights of residents in tourism cities. The authors in this edited volume explore issues of social justice in terms of residents’ quality of life, working conditions, the housing market, urban structure, the morality of operators who navigate through normative loopholes, and the responsibility issues of platform companies holding data on short-term rentals. The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism.
Global Problems, Global Solutions: Prospects for a Better World by JoAnn Chirico approaches social problems from a global perspective with an emphasis on using one’s sociological imagination. Perfect for instructors who involve students in research, this text connects problems borne by individuals to regional, global, and historical forces, and stresses the importance of evidence in forming opinions and policies addressing social issues. The book introduces readers to the complexities of the major problems that confront us today such as violent conflict, poverty, climate change, human trafficking and other issues that we encounter in our lives. It book concludes with a chapter on politics and government, underscoring the need for good governance at all levels–and cooperation among many layers of government–to build a better world.
This book explores the link between the Food-Water-Energy nexus and sustainability, and the extraordinary value that small tweaks to this nexus can achieve for more resilient cities and communities. Using data from Urban Living Labs in six participating cities (Eindhoven, Gdańsk, Miami, Southend-on-Sea, Taipei, and Uppsala) to co-define context-specific challenges, the results from each city are collated into an Integrated Decision Support System to guide and improve robust decision-making on future urban development. The book presents contributions from CRUNCH, a transdisciplinary team of scholars and practitioners whose expertise spans urban climate modelling; food, water, and energy management; the design of resilient public space; collecting better urban data; and the development of smart city technology. Whilst previous works on the Food-Water-Energy nexus have focused on large, transnational cases, this book explores local ways to use the Food-Water-Energy nexus to improve urban resilience. It suggests tangible ways in which the cities and communities around us can become both more efficient and more climate resilient through small changes to their existing infrastructure. Over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and this is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. We urgently need to make our cities more resilient. This book provides a planning tool for decision-making and concludes with policy recommendations, making it relevant to a range of audiences including urbanists, environmentalists, architects, urban designers, and city planners, as well as students and scholars interested in alternative approaches to sustainability and resilience. Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Even with significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, a certain degree of climate change will inevitably occur. Adapting to climate change, then, will become a necessary step in reducing the vulnerability of many regions across the globe. This is especially true for urban areas where climate change has been shown to have particularly destabilizing effects. Through the identification and analysis of the most relevant impacts facing urban areas, this book makes clear the need to incorporate climate change concerns into the mainstream of local planning, governance and policy making practices. Adaptation as a workable concept within urban areas cannot be treated in isolation from the many pre-existing challenges facing cities. By offering numerous examples of ongoing adaptation programs and strategies across a wide range of contexts, the authors show the growing potential of cities in the fight against climate change. This book has its origins in a collection of papers originally presented at the Resilient Cities 2010 Congress in Bonn, Germany (May 2010), the first global forum on cities and adaptation to climate change, convened by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. In this volume, the first in a new series dedicated to this annual event, a range of contributors bring their perspectives to bear on the most pressing issues and controversies surrounding adaptation to climate change within cities. These writings will prove invaluable to anyone interested in understanding and confronting climate change at the local level.
Accelerating urbanization worldwide means more urban-centered disasters. Floods, earthquakes, storms and conflicts affecting densely populated areas produce significant losses in lives, livelihoods and the built environment, especially in comparison to rural areas. Poor urban dwellers, almost always the most vulnerable, too often bear the brunt. Aid agencies and urban professionals have been slowly adapting to these new conditions, but older models and practices hinder the most effective engagements. Drawing directly from the experiences of urban disasters in the Philippines, Chile, India, Thailand, Iraq, Haiti and Nepal, among other countries, Urban Disaster Resilience brings to light new collaborations and techniques for addressing the challenges of urban disasters in the coming years. Chapters range from country-specific case studies to more synthetic frameworks in order to promote innovative thinking and practical solutions. Edited by David Sanderson, Jerold S. Kayden and Julia Leis, this book is a crucial read for humanitarian and disaster specialists, urban planners and designers, architects, landscape architects, housing and economic development professionals, real estate developers, private business managers and students interested in the subject, whether based in non-governmental organizations, local, state or national governments, international agencies, private firms, or the academy.
This timely Research Agenda explores and proposes critical lines of research to support understanding of the conditions under which urban tourism contributes to the development of urban systems, and what can be done to create and conserve these conditions. Chapters highlight conceptual discussions, concrete case studies and policy reviews to address the issues surrounding the economic, environmental and social impacts of tourism on cities.
This volume explores the dynamics of urbanisation in Northeast India. It discusses the impact of the process of urbanisation on the environment, infrastructure and socio-economic conditions of the region. The chapters in the book: Examine various challenges and opportunities of urbanisation, such as frontier urbanism, urban congestion, smart cities, vernacular architecture, urban water and waste management, cross-border migration and ethnicity. Draw attention to critical issues that have massively disturbed the urban landscape including deterioration of water quality, seismic activity and air pollution. Give alternatives that could present possible solutions to the problems afflicting this region. Drawing on case studies rooted in extensive fieldwork, this book will be indispensable to researchers and students of urban studies, human geography, development economics, cultural studies and South Asian studies. It will also be of interest to policy-makers, government representatives and town planners.