A political scientist and an urban architect explore China's odyssey to become an ecological civilization and transform its massive, unsustainable, urbanization process into one that creates hundreds of eco-cities. The resulting From Eco-Cities to Sustainable City-Regions is the first book-length study combining analysis of politics and power, urban design and planning issues derived from the co-authors' interdisciplinary research, and on-site fieldwork from their political science and architectural area specialties. Begun in 1986, little-known policy actions have taken shape in the building of 285 eco-cities--and growing. What are the driving forces of these innovative developments? How is China going about converting its teeming urban areas into replicable and showcase cities? Can these new policy initiatives overcome the damage done to its air, waterways, and land, while significantly reducing public health dangers to its inhabitants? In searching for means for the People s Republic of China to take the next step from eco-cities to sustainable city-regions, the co-authors assess the potential success of China's present course and offer key recommendations for Chinese political leaders, urban planners, and citizen stakeholders to make the transition to a sustainable future for its people and the rest of the world. The primary market for this book will be eco-researchers, Asian studies scholars and teachers, eco- and urban architects, environmental and urban policy professionals, and advanced undergraduates in environmental and sustainability studies or sciences programs. The interdisciplinary reach and critical framework of analysis will appeal to a wide variety of scholars interested in Chinese ecological strides and seeking a critical assessment of its potential.

A political scientist and an urban architect explore China's odyssey to become an ecological civilization and transform its massive, unsustainable, urbanization process into one that creates hundreds of eco-cities. The resulting From Eco-Cities to Sustainable City-Regions is the first book-length study combining analysis of politics and power, urban design and planning issues derived from the co-authors' interdisciplinary research, and on-site fieldwork from their political science and architectural area specialties. Begun in 1986, little-known policy actions have taken shape in the building of 285 eco-cities--and growing. What are the driving forces of these innovative developments? How is China going about converting its teeming urban areas into replicable and showcase cities? Can these new policy initiatives overcome the damage done to its air, waterways, and land, while significantly reducing public health dangers to its inhabitants? In searching for means for the People s Republic of China to take the next step from eco-cities to sustainable city-regions, the co-authors assess the potential success of China's present course and offer key recommendations for Chinese political leaders, urban planners, and citizen stakeholders to make the transition to a sustainable future for its people and the rest of the world. The primary market for this book will be eco-researchers, Asian studies scholars and teachers, eco- and urban architects, environmental and urban policy professionals, and advanced undergraduates in environmental and sustainability studies or sciences programs. The interdisciplinary reach and critical framework of analysis will appeal to a wide variety of scholars interested in Chinese ecological strides and seeking a critical assessment of its potential.

This book responds to the some of the twenty-first century's most assuming problems of our times: global warming, sub-national terrorism, natural resource depletion, and economic, environmental and financial crises. It finds short- and long-term solutions to these global woes by looking to the city as the fulcrum for introducing sustainability around the world. Beginning with an outline of a robust strategy of sustainable cities-or sustainable city-regions-that has emerged out of over two-and-a-half decades of theoretical and practical work, the authors show why these portentous problems can best be addressed at the local-regional scale. In the process, this book cuts through the received wisdom and popular misunderstandings about sustainability and peels away the conceptual fog and ideological confusion about the meaning of sustainability. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork in North America, Europe and Asia, the authors examine both strong and weak examples of sustainable city approaches that validate their distinctive urban sustainability strategy. They discover keen insights and important lessons in these case studies for sustainability practice across the globe, whether in small towns in the US and Canada, large cities in Europe or tiny Chinese villages in Asia. Their concluding chapter argues that only the road less travelled holds real promise of creating sustainable city-regions around the world guided by the toolkit of ecological and technological conviviality.