Print PageThe reality of cities, a shorthand term for complex urban systems, is changing rapidly and variously over the globe. The many amenities and opportunities widely perceived to characterize cities attract an unstoppable tide of people. Policies to thwart urban growth are notoriously unsuccessful; rather they must be approached as venues to advance sustainability. Four major transitions are associated with the continuing expansion of the Earth’s urban realm, and these must be considered in order to transform urban areas toward sustainability: 1) the transition in livelihoods in urban areas, and the associated demographic shifts; 2) the shift in urban function from industrial production to consumption, with some global cities skipping an industrial phase altogether; 3) an alteration in urban form and function from regional hubs to “metacities” defined by extensive and dynamic networks; and 4) from a management and planning paradigm emphasizing technocratic, departmental management for sanitation and efficiency to one of integrated, adaptive management for sustainability.
Results/Conclusions
These four shifts present opportunities to correct the shortcomings of current urban form and management by taking advantage of changes in governance, reducing the impact of consumption, and integrated management of urban structures and processes to ensure positive services that limit hazards or increase adaptive capacity. The shift to sustainability carries with it the opportunity to engage with urban designers, managers, and various other groups in the larger society to envision and work towards socially desirable goals for the the next generation of urban life. Ecologically sensitive urban systems can reduce environmental inequity, and employ an adaptive policy and management approach that avoids the brittleness of the currently predominant technocratic approach to urban planning and management.
