Ann Dale - Böcker

The recent United Nations Conference on the Environment andDevelopment, popularly known as the Earth Summit, was a milestone eventfor sustainable development. In dealing with ecological anddevelopmental issues concurrently, it brought the internationalenvironmental agenda to the fore. Canada was the first industrializedcountry to announce that it would be a signatory to the BiodiversityConvention, and by furthering future forestry and global warmingconventions, it played an important leadership role.Achieving Sustainable Development explores how well Canadahas met the Earth Summit's targets and attempts to find ways inwhich the public can become involved in such issues. Its authors stressthe importance of integration of information from various fields andseek to stimulate the exchange of knowledge among the academiccommunity, government, non-governmental organizations and industry. Thecontributors look far beyond merely identifying and analyzing selectedissues and problems. To facilitate public discussion and to affectpolicy development, at least one initiative is proposed and detailedfor each problem identified.Achieving Sustainable Development provides an overallintroduction to critical subjects in sustainable development --industrial growth, women, institutional arrangements, industrialpractices, and aboriginal peoples. Most importantly, it argues for theimmediate development of a research and policy agenda for Canada andsuggests mechanisms for its implementation.

What is a sustainable community? The pressing need to answer thissimple question is what prompted John Pierce and Ann Dale to gather theessays in this volume. Communities, Development, and Sustainabilityacross Canada is a timely synthesis of work on how Canadiancommunities can achieve sustainable development. It bridges the gapbetween theory and praxis and brings together academics, policy makers,and community activists, all of whom have argued for increased localparticipation in sustainable community development. Communities havebecome the weak link in efforts to refashion relations between theenvironment and the economy. The goal of this book is not simply todescribe problems but also to suggest answers, not simply to offertheory but also to promote action, so that Canadian communities canbetter achieve sustainable development.The twelve essays are organized into four sections: Vision,Connections, Action, and Assessing Progress. The first and lastsections discuss local sustainable development within the context ofincreasing globalization. The second section approaches sustainabledevelopment from the perspective of social evolution and urban systems.The third section, the heart of the book, is comprised of threecommunity case studies, an assessment of the Pacific salmon fishery,and four general discussions of sustainable development. The conclusionreiterates the need to make communities stronger links in sustainabledevelopment.The message of Communities, Development, and Sustainabilityacross Canada is clear: it is time for communities themselves toact if they are to achieve sustainable development. This provocativeand persuasive book will prove to be a valuable guide to taking thefirst steps.

Given ongoing concerns about global climate change and its impacts on cities, the need for sustainable planning has never been greater. This book explores concrete ways to achieve urban sustainability based on integrated planning, policy development, and decision-making.Urban Sustainability is the first book to provide an applied interdisciplinary perspective on the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead in this area. Bringing together researchers and practitioners to explore leading innovations on the ground, this volume combines the theoretical underpinnings of urban sustainability with current practices through highly readable narrative case studies. The contributors also provide fresh perspectives on how issues related to sustainable urban planning and development can be reconciled through collaborative partnerships and engagement processes.