Urban governance and sustainability are rapidly becoming key issues around the world. Currently three billion people - half the population of the planet - live in cities, and by 2050 a full two-thirds of the world's population will be housed in ever larger and increasingly densely populated urban areas. The economic, social and environmental challenges posed by urbanization on such a large scale and at such a rapid pace are staggering for local, regional and national governments working towards sustainability. Solutions to the myriad problems plaguing the quest for sustainability at the...

Urban governance and sustainability are rapidly becoming key issues around the world and the EU is currently finalizing its Urban Thematic Strategy, which will guide European urban environmental policy for the next decade. Based on three years of field research in 40 European cities, this book is the first to empirically test the assumptions of the 'sustainability agenda', developed in Rio and embodied in Local Agenda/Action 21. These assumptions state that good governance is a necessary precondition for the achievement of sustainable development, particularly at the local level, and that the...

How is a natural common pool resource such as a sea, which is shared by several countries, best governed? The potential for international conflict is immense, as each country may have different agendas with regard to issues such as exploitation and environmental protection.This book uses a case study of the Baltic Sea region to examine this complex problem. The sea itself has been highly vulnerable to pollution and recently the bordering nations have cooperated and tackled the issue by establishing several new forums to manage the sea. Administrative and political structures developed in the...

Informed Cities looks at the knowledge brokerage processes between cities and higher education institutions, and in particular evaluates governance mechanisms for monitoring local sustainability and the role of research within this. The first part of the book provides an analysis of tools for governing sustainable cities and develops a typology of existing tools. It then considers approaches to monitor local sustainability on a European level, focusing on a number of key tools such as the Covenant of Mayors, Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities, and Green Capital Award. The second part...

This is a very welcome volume, and it will reach a large audience and readership among those involved in these issues from a truly multidisciplinary perspective; in essence, a much needed book Erik Bonsdorff, professor of marine biology at bo Akademi University, Finland This timely volume provides a thorough account of how the highly advanced industrial societies seek to govern and manage the Baltic Sea. The way they proceed, and the degree to which they succeed, provide valuable lessons for riparian states seeking to avoid tragedies of their commons. Lennart J. Lundqvist, professor of...