Publisher's Synopsis
Adapting existing cities to the demands of the 21st century is the focus of this book: the 'what, why and how' of adapting cities to climate change; where we have come from, where we are now, and directions for the future.
Existing industrial and post-industrial cities in the more developed urbanised regions of the world, whether in Europe, the Americas or long established cities in Asia and elsewhere, were not constrained in their initial development and evolution by the determining agendas of our time. Adapting Cities to Climate Change will focus on this challenge. Importantly, it will highlight and provide coherence to current initiatives - many of them to date at the scale of local communities - that are pioneering the field. Where relevant, it will also draw on the literature and examples of new 'sustainable' developments at different scales and in different parts of the world. This breadth of source material will maximise the usefulness of this book as a single source overview of the subject.
Adapting Cities to Climate Change provides clear definitions, coherent directions and identify appropriate responses to the challenges faced in existing cities, and it will highlight the creative, innovative opportunities that they afford. It will communicate, integrate and promote best practice to a multi-disciplinary audience of policy makers, professionals, community leaders, academics and practitioners in the field, and its writing style and presentation will render it accessible to a wider audience. The strength of this book is that it will evidence the relationships between these diverse audiences and how their perceptions and actions impact on and have the potential to benefit from each other. The book addresses issues and topics that have international relevance and will attract interest and readerships from the public and private sectors as well as from academica.
