Bangkok--21 Jan--AIT
AIT’s Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal co-edits special issue of Yale U’s Journal of Industrial Ecology
Developing environmentally-sustainable cities has been identified as one of society’s grand challenges in the coming decades. Already more than half the world's people and 80% of those in developed nations live in cities and urban areas. These vast urban populations consume a majority of the world's resources, contribute to environmental degradation locally, regionally and globally, and, simultaneously, are also highly vulnerable to the consequent impacts of such changes, e.g., to climate change. At the same time, cities present crucial opportunities for efficient use of resources and low impact ways of life.
Yale University’s Journal of Industrial Ecology has published a special issue on Sustainable Urban Systems in December 2012 edition that focuses on the integration of engineered infrastructures, people, and natural systems in the pursuit of sustainable cities. The special issue generates new insights using the notion of “urban metabolism”— like organisms, cities need energy, water, and nutrients, and they need to dispose of the byproducts in ways that are sustainable over the long run. By looking systematically at the resources that flow into and the wastes and emissions that flow out of cities, a clearer picture emerges of the contribution of cities to global warming, opportunities for better management of waste electronics and storm-water, and the use and fate of phosphorus — a resource that is both potentially scarce and polluting. The special issue presents research on 11 cities in 6 countries including New York City, Delhi, Denver, Melbourne and London.
“An integrated-understanding of the urban system and its sustainability synergies and tradeoffs is a must in the unprecedented era of urbanization,” said Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal, Associate Professor of Asian Institute of Technology, who is one of the co-editors of the special issue. “Asia, in particular, is at the forefront of economic growth and its speed, scale, and size of urbanization has been unprecedented. Knowledge on sustainable urban systems and reflecting that in our actions is crucial to ensure sustainability of a city as well as the whole world.”
“This is the urban century,” said Sir Peter Crane, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, “and the integrative perspective this issue provides is essential for the study of sustainable urban systems.”
The Journal of Industrial Ecology is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal, owned by Yale University, published by Wiley-Blackwell and headquartered at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. It is the official journal of the International Society for Industrial Ecology. Chris Kennedy of the University of Toronto (Canada), Anu Ramaswami and Larry Baker of the University of Minnesota (USA), and Shobhakar Dhakal of the Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand) served as co-editors of the special issue.
Articles of the special issue are available at: http://jie.yale.edu/SUS (OR) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.2012.16.issue-6/issuetoc -KP-
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