Scaling Urban Environmental Challenges: From Local to Global and Back

by Peter J. Marcotullio (Editor), Gordon McGranahan (Editor)

�Think globally, act locally� emphasizes the importance of scale in dealing with environmental challenges, but not how to factor it in. This major new book focuses on the spatial dimensions of urban environmental burdens, showing how important it is to take these into account when pursuing environmental justice and good governance - whether in the context of the sanitary risks of slum living, the pollution of uncontrolled industrialization and motorization, or the enormous ecological footprints of affluent urban lifestyles. Written by leading experts in the fields of urban development and environmental planning, the book reviews the urban environmental shifts that have shaped today�s challenges, and examines conditions and problems in the urban centres of low-, middle- and high-income countries. Case studies address such economically diverse cities as Accra, New Delhi, Mexico City and Manchester, while thematic chapters explore issues including water, sanitation and transportation. The book concludes by exploring and analysing different scales of governance. The editors argue that we should not rely solely on local governance to address local burdens like poor sanitation, nor depend only on global governance for global challenges such as greenhouse gas emissions, but that scale is crucial in both understanding the problems and devising successful responses. Published with UNU-IAS and IIED.

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2006

Reviews

[Cathy Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. I advise that the potential reader be in for some quirky scientific terms (especially in the beginning). It's content paints an accurate and all-too-scary picture of what can climate change can do, and has already done, to urban cities.