Sustainable Cities

"[T]he notion of carrying capacity relies on an understanding of ecosystems as dynamic and, in some nondeterministic sense, equilibrium-seeking entities...In this context, the term carrying capacity refers to the level of human consumption and waste discharge that can be maintained for an indefinite period without compromising the natural systems on which such activities depend, regardless whether the people in question actually live within the sending and receiving systems."

"The term climate change refers to increases in global mean surface temperatures brought about by human activity. It is considered an issue of global importance because the rise in temperature and the environmental consequences this might engender are transboundary—they do not respect the boundaries demarcated by the nation-state. It is a complex governance issue, especially because the nature and extent of the problem are contested."

"Conservation as a philosophy, ethic, and form of action has been expressed widely and in many different ways in art, music, literature, and life sciences, as well as in individual lifestyles and the political and economic arenas. Yet the conservation ethic has not been predominant in the West. In the United States, especially, natural resources have been viewed as essential for growth of the capitalist system based on the creation of individual, corporate, and national wealth in what many have historically viewed as an unlimited abundance of free natural gifts there for the taking."

"The ecosystemic approach is a specific form of environmental governance that places ecosystemic dynamics at the heart of environmental policymaking. It thus grounds policy making in a scientific understanding of the environment, the ecosystem paradigm."

"Generally, resilience is understood as the degree to which a complex system is flexible enough to respond and adapt to an externally-imposed force or change, and thus persist over time, while retaining its structure and functions. Conversely, a vulnerable system would be one in which conditions are inflexible, key resources comprise a monoculture, there is little learning capacity, and choices for addressing crises are constrained."

"Smart Growth is an approach to urban planning that emphasizes compact development patterns, with the aim of building more socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable communities."

"Steady state economy (SSE) refers to a theoretical economic system in which the world's population and natural resources remain practically constant through time. A steady state economy would be sustainable in that humans would not extract or deplete natural capital faster than the Earth's systems could replenish it."

"The way that sustainable development is interpreted will affect the debates surrounding how the concept is to be promoted and implemented. A useful way to understand the concept is to identify sustainable development on a linear scale that is strong on one end and weak on the other. Strong sustainable development indicates that there would need to be a significant reordering of current sociopolitical and economic structures. Such interpretations of the term are linked to ideas that are ecocentric in nature, where the environment is put first. In this interpretation the environment has an intrinsic value and should be protected at all costs."