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Revisiting and Ranking the Cities and Regions

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America’s Most Sustainable Cities and Regions
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Abstract

In Chaps. 59 we reviewed the major megatrends that will affect society in the twenty-first century. Now, let’s take a look at how these trends may affect the cities and regions that we discussed in Chap. 4. The sustainability rankings are based on the following key factors and trends, and how they are expected to vary across the American landscape.

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Notes

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    See The bug that’s eating the woods by Hillary Rosner in the April 2015 National Geographic for a description of how high temperatures are leading to widespread tree death due to beetle infestations and resulting forest fires.

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    Becker, 2013, ibid.

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    http://online.wsj.com/articles/california-expected-to-set-mandatory-water-curbs-1405367707.

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    Lynn Ingram and Frances Malamud-Roam. 2013. The West Without Water. The University of California Press, Berkeley. 256 p.

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    Cook, B. I., Ault, T. R., & Smerdon, J. E. 2015. Unprecedented 21st century drought risk in the American Southwest and Central Plains. Science Advances, 1(1), e1400082.

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    Ingram and Malamud-Roam, 2013, ibid.

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    National Geographic magazine, November 2014 and references cites therein.

  25. 25.

    http://www.mnn.com/health/allergies/photos/top-10-green-us-cities/what-makes-a-city-green#ixzz383BBmkyN.

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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_cities.

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    Richard Forman. 2008. Urban Regions Ecology and Planning Beyond the City. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK.

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  29. 29.

    Hall and Klitgaard, 2012, ibid.

  30. 30.

    Jordan Rappaport. 2003. U.S. Urban Decline and Growth, 1950 to 2000. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. 44 p. www.kc.frb.org

  31. 31.

    Pimentel, D., Williamson, S., Alexander, C.E., Gonzalez-Pagan, O., Kontak, C., Mulkey, S.E., 2008. Reducing energy inputs in the U.S. food system. Hum. Ecol., 36, 459–471.

  32. 32.

    William Rees, 2012, Ibid.

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Day, J.W., Hall, C. (2016). Revisiting and Ranking the Cities and Regions. In: America’s Most Sustainable Cities and Regions. Copernicus, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3243-6_10

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