The goal of advancing eco cities often remains confined to political or technological issues. This book establishes a focus on architectural and infrastructural design approaches to sustainable urban planning. Starting out from a critical assessment of five prototypical eco cities of recent decades, the book identifies fields in which architectural and urban designers can use their creative skills and methods to achieve sustainable results on an urban scale. Sustainability is undergoing a shift of focus from quantitative measures toward designoriented, interactive interventions. The range of qualitative solutions in ecological design is discussed here in four topical sections on "Materialize", "Mobilize", "Simulate" and "Transform". For example, "Materialize" explores the potential of eco-design beyond the traditional palette of materials to show how spatial boundaries can be re-imagined as gradients of conditioned versus unconditioned space, working with climatic conditions rather than material boundaries to help generate new forms of urban architecture. Notes Includes index.

"Examines how indulgences from individual and generational entitlement impact the environment and society, resulting in depletion of natural resources to the detriment of future generations' ability to meet their needs. Presents options for change to rally the emerging Sustainability Generation to take action toward a more balanced, sustainable future"--Provided by publisher.

"Environmental issues often span long periods of time, far-flung areas, and labyrinthine layers of complexity. In Greening through IT, Bill Tomlinson investigates how the tools and techniques of information technology (IT) can help us tackle environmental problems at such vast scales. Tomlinson describes theoretical, technological, and social aspects of a growing interdisciplinary approach to sustain ability, "Green IT," offering both a human-centered framework for understanding Green IT systems and specific examples and case studies of Green IT in action." "Tomlinson contrasts the broad ranges of time, space, and complexity against which environmental concerns play out with the relatively narrow horizons of human understanding; it's hard for us to grasp thousand-year projections of global climatic disruption or our stake in melting icecaps thousands of miles away. IT can bridge the gap between human scales of understanding and environmental scales." "Tomlinson offers many examples of efforts toward sustainability supported by IT - from fishers in India who maximized the sales potential of their catch by coordinating their activities with mobile phones to the installation of smart meters that optimize electricity use in California households - and discusses three detailed studies of specific research projects that he and his colleagues have undertaken: EcoRaft, an interactive museum exhibit to help children learn principles of restoration ecology; Trackulous, a set of Web-based tools with which people can chart their own environmental behavior; and GreenScanner, an online system that provides access to environmental-impact reports about consumer products. Taken together, these examples illustrate the significant environmental benefits that innovations in information technology can enable."--BOOK JACKET.

"Children growing up today are confronted by four difficult and intersecting challenges: dangerous environmental change, weakening democracies, growing social inequality, and a global economy marked by unprecedented youth unemployment and unsustainable resource extraction. Yet on streets everywhere, there is also a strong, youthful energy for change.This book sets out an inspiring new agenda for citizenship and environmental education which reflects the responsibility and opportunities facing educators, researchers, parents and community groups to support young citizens as they learn to 'make a difference' on the issues that concern them. Controversial yet ultimately hopeful, political scientist Bronwyn Hayward rethinks assumptions about youth citizenship in neoliberal democracies. Her comparative discussion with the US and UK draws on lessons from New Zealand, a country where young citizens often express a strong sense of personal responsibility for their planet but where many children also face shocking social conditions. Hayward develops a 'SEEDS' model of ecological citizenship education (Social agency, Environmental Education, Embedded justice, Decentred deliberative democracy and Self transcendence). The discussion considers how the SEEDs model can support young citizens' democratic imagination and develop their 'handprint' for social justice.From eco-worriers and citizen-scientists to streetwise sceptics, "Children, Citizenship and Environment" identifies a variety of forms of citizenship and discusses why many approaches make it more difficult, not easier, for young citizens to effect change. This book will be of interest to a wide audience, in particular teachers of children aged 8-12 and professionals who work in Environmental Citizenship Education as well as students and researchers with an interest in environmental change, democracy and intergenerational justice.Introduced by international sustainability expert Tim Jackson, the book includes forewords by leading European and USA academics, Andrew Dobson and Roger Hart.Half the author's royalties will be donated to child poverty projects following the earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand.Follow Bronwyn Hayward's blog at: http://growing-greens.blogspot.co.nz/<BR>"-- "Today's millennial generation inherit a world confronted by four difficult and intersecting challenges: dangerous environmental change, weakening democracies, growing social inequality, and a paradigm of economic growth that has contributed to unprecedented youth unemployment and resource extraction beyond our planet's limits. But the future is not inevitable and today on the streets everywhere; there is a strong, youthful energy for change. 'Children, Citizenship and Environment' sets out a new agenda for citizenship education which reflects both the responsibility and opportunities we are confronted with to support young citizens. In a myth busting discussion of issues facing young citizens growing up in neoliberal democracies, political scientist Bronwyn Hayward draws on the experience of New Zealanders, a nation where young citizens often express a strong sense of personal responsibility for their planet but where many face shocking social conditions. Theoretically informed and written with engaging practical insight, Hayward argues that young citizens today will need fewer lessons in how to recycle or when to switch off the lights and more intergenerational support to reclaim their democratic imagination and discover the 'seeds' of ecological citizenship and their own SMART ' handprint' for social justice. This book will be of interest to a wide audience including teachers in the Education sector, students and researchers, as well as policy makers and N.G.Os who work in the area of Youth Citizenship"--

"What's The Economy For, Anyway? is a thought-provoking, funny, readable, anti-ideological book based on the cult hit film of the same name. Here, scholars John de Graaf (author of Affluenza) and David Batker tackle thirteen touchstone economic issues and challenge readers to consider just what the point of our economy is. Emphasizing powerful American ideals such as working together, pragmatism, and equality for all, de Graaf and Batker set forth a simple, powerful goal for any economic system: the greatest good for the greatest number, over the longest run. Their vision will appeal to a wide array of readers across traditional silos. Drawing from this nation's rich economic history, the book shows that the good life in America is achieved when people and markets work together with an active government to create a better economy, one that works for everyone, not just the privileged few. Beginning by taking our fetish for GDP and shattering it, the chapters touch on quality of life, health, security, time management, worklife, leisure, social justice, and perhaps most important, sustainability. This sparkling, message-driven book is exactly what we need: a guide to what really matters, and how we can use the resources of our economy to make the world a better place"--