Abstract
The Rio + 20 conference insisted on the ecoresponsibility of cities, which have to become more resource-conscious and reduce their ecological debts. Sustainable cities, one of the seven priority areas of the conference, can also do much for other priorities, promoting decent jobs and preventing disasters and tensions over energy, food, and water. To thrive in harmony with the planet, cities need ecological and environmentally friendly cells and neurons. Urban organs and functions have to boost the resilience of urban areas and assist in the transition to the civilization of sustainability.
This chapter focuses on cities as vital ecosystems able to manage crucial amounts of scarce resources and materials and reduce emissions and waste. Urbanization affects land use and cover, biodiversity, the hydrologic cycle locally and regionally, air quality, and global climate. Cities should invent new resources if they wish to continue to prosper, while improving efficiency and reducing poverty, emissions, and pollution. Industry suggests that it is possible to live well, with not one particle of waste, and in ecological balance by 2050. Urban concepts such as the SymbioCity actively strive for this.
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Mega, V. (2013). Human Ecosystems in Harmony with a Resource-Scarce World. In: Quintessential Cities, Accountable to the Future. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7348-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7348-0_2
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