Scaling Urban Environmental Challenges: From Local to Global and Back

Written by leading experts in the fields of urban development and environmental planning, the book reviews the urban environmental shifts that have shaped today's challenges, and examines conditions and problems in the urban centres of low-, middle- and high-income countries. Case studies address such economically diverse cities as Accra, New Delhi, Mexico City and Manchester, while thematic chapters explore issues including water, sanitation and transportation. The book concludes by exploring and analysing different scales of governance. The editors argue that we should not rely solely on local governance to address local burdens like poor sanitation, nor depend only on global governance for global challenges such as greenhouse gas emissions, but that scale is crucial in both understanding the problems and devising successful responses.

"Think globally, act locally" emphasizes the importance of scale in dealing with environmental challenges, but not how to factor it in. This major new book focuses on the spatial dimensions of urban environmental burdens, and shows how important it is to take these into account when pursuing environmental justice and good governance--whether in the context of the sanitary risks of slum living, the pollution of uncontrolled industrialization and motorization, or the enormous ecological footprints of affluent urban lifestyles.

The volume reviews the urban environmental transitions that have shaped today’s challenges and proceeds to examine conditions and problems in the urban centers of low, middle, and high income countries. Case studies examine such economically diverse cities as Accra, New Delhi, Mexico City, and Manchester, and thematic chapters explore issues including water, sanitation, and transportation. It ends by examining different scales of governance. The editors argue that it is an error to rely solely on local governance to address local burdens like poor sanitation, or on global governance for global challenges such as greenhouse gas emissions, but that scale is crucial in both understanding the problems and devising successful responses.

Gordon McGranahan is Director of the Human Settlements Program at the International Institute for Environment and Development, (IIED) and is lead author of a recent book, The Citizens at Risk (2001).

Peter J. Marcotullio is a Professor at the Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo.