With an estimated 50% of the world’s population living in cities, cities have become the engines of modern society, the centres of economic, political, social and cultural activity, and magnets that attract the rural poor. Beginning with the more developed countries of Europe and North America, and now in Asia, Africa and Latin America, cities are spreading out in all directions, consuming farms and open spaces lying in their path. In the face of rapid growth, public services like water supply, sewerage disposal and power generation have been hard pressed to keep pace with the demand. In this context, sustainable urban management is not only an imperative in improving the quality of the urban environment, but a prerequisite for securing a healthy living environment for Europe’s urban citizens.

The objectives of this module are therefore to:

• Raise awareness of the key principles of sustainable urban management
• Present urban management issues from the scope of the environment, the economy, and society
• Stress the links that exist between sustainable urban management and the improvement of the environmental performance and quality of urban areas
• Set out the nature of the challenges, what action has been taken at the European level, and ideas for addressing the challenges identified

The information included in this module is available for you to enhance your knowledge and skills in order to create and promote action plans and designs aimed at sustainable development and viable, healthy and pleasant urban environment.”

Acknowledgements

These notes have been produced from public domain information regarding sustainable development and the urban environment and are freely available on the following websites:

• www.biopolitics.gr
• http://reports.eea.europa.eu/eea_report_2006_10/en/eea_report_10_2006.pdf
• http://www.cemt.org/online/council/2001/CM0113e.pdf
• http://aei.pitt.edu/1233/01/public_transport_gp_COM_96_601.pdf
• http://www.eaue.de/winuwd/78.htm
• http://reports.eea.europa.eu/state_of_environment_report_2005_1/
en/SOER2005_all.pdf
• http://aei.pitt.edu/1205/01/urban_environment _gp_COM_90_218.pdf
• http://www.plannersweb.com/wfiles/w205.html
• http://store1.digitalcity.eu.com/store/release/dok/doc/AAAAKQNU.pdf
• www.psat.wa.gov/Publications/03_proceedings/PAPERS/ORAL/2c_schae.pdf
• http://www.watertime.net/Docs/WP3/WTEC.pdf
• http://www.toronto.ca/greenroofs/findings.htm
• http://reports.eea.europa.eu/state_of_environment_report_2005_1/
en/SOER2005_all.pdf
• http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/pubs/Pub032/RR032.htm
• http://www.unep.ch/roe/publications/assessment/01_eurowater.pdf
• http://cwrri.colostate.edu/pubs/series/completionreport/cr80.pdf
• http://www.unep.ch/roe/publications/assessment/01_eurowater.pdf
• http://epaedia.eea.europa.eu/page.php?pid=521#galleryhere
• http://www.watertime.net/Docs/WP3/WTEC.pdf
• http://reports.eea.europa.eu/eea_report_2006_10/en/eea_report_10_2006.pdf
• http://reports.eea.europa.eu/state_of_environment_report_2005_1/en/SOER2005_all.pdf
• http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/result/water_en.pdf
• http://www.ecologic.de/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1881
• http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/urbanquality.html
• http://www.sea-user.org/download_pubdoc.php?doc=3348
• http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs07603/
• http://www.gdrc.org/uem/water/watershed/urban-water-pollution.html
• http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/projects/barton-broad/lowering-nutrient-levels.html
• http://www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/2.html
• http://cwrri.colostate.edu/pubs/series/completionreport/cr80.pdf
• www.risoe.dk
• http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=10748
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/?ngland/devon/2992996.stm
• http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/renewable_energy/ocean/index.cfm
• www.drnoise.com/PDF_files/Traffic%20Noise%20primer.pdf
• www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/capacity_ building/capacity.htm
• www.planning.dot.gov/default.asp
• http://www.gdrc.org/uem/capacity.html
• http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/home.htm
• http://www.eib.org/cms/htm/en/eib.org/attachments/general/bei_info/bei_info124_en.pdf
• http://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/index_en.htm
• www.cabe.org.uk
• http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-76-06-390/EN/KS-76-06-390-EN.PDF
• http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/705&format=
HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
• http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/areas/fiche08_en.htm
• http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/4/39/37355461.pdf
• www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Customers/New_Deal
• http://www.ilo.org/global/Themes/Skills__Knowledge_and_Employability/
Training/lang--en/index.htm
• http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-76-06-390/EN/KS-76-06-390-EN.PDF
• http://www.eukn.org/binaries/greatbritain/bulk/research/2006/12/
raising-educational-achievement-in-areas-of-multiple-disadvantege.pdf
• http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy/Social_inclusion_and_integration/
Education/index.html
• http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-CD-06-001/
EN/KS-CD-06-001-EN.PDF
• http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm
• http://titania.sourceoecd.org/vl=7102219/cl=12/nw=1/rpsv/factbook/about.htm
• http://www.un.org/events/11thcongress/pressrel.html
• http://www.unicri.it/wwd/analysis/icvs/pdf_files/key2000i/index.htm
• http://www.eu2007.de/en/index.html
• http://ue.eu.int/Newsroom
• http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-CD-06-001/EN/KS-CD-06-001-EN.PDF
• http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/res/1995/eres1995-9.htm
• http://www.bmvbs.de/Anlage/original_995333/
Leipzig-Charter-on-Sustainable-European-Cities-final-draft-2-May-2007.pdf
• http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/res/1995/eres1995-9.htm
• http://www.bmvbs.de/Anlage/original_995333/
Leipzig-Charter-on-Sustainable-European-Cities-final-draft-2-May-2007.pdf
• http://www.crime-prevention-intl.org
• http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy/
Security_and_crime_prevention/Crime_prevention/Secucities-crime-prevention-Europe_1004.html
• http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/my_health/elderly/index_en.htm
• http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-CD-06-001/EN/KS-CD-06-001-EN.PDF
• http://edition.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/03/23/mystery.virus.breakdown/index.html
• http://www.euro.who.int/transport/HIA/20030129_4
• http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/eyeq/index.cfm
• http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/
page?_pageid=1090,30070682,1090_33076576&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
• http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy /
Social_inclusion_and_integration/Equality/Gender_Equality/female-entrepreneurship_1021.html
• http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy/
Social_inclusion_and_integration/Equality/Gender_Equality/women-neighbourhood-partnership_1010.html
• http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy/
Social_inclusion_and_integration/Equality/Gender_Equality/young-women_1013.html
• http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy/Social_inclusion_and_integration/
Integration_of_social_groups/multi-dimensional-analysis-social-exclusion_1123.html
• http://www.eukn.org/binaries/greatbritain/bulk/research/2007/7/
multidimensional_analysis_social_exclusion.pdf
• http://www.feantsa.org/code/en/hp.asp
• http://www.eukn.org/binaries/eukn/netherlands/practice/2006/6/
eukweb001-tm-lets-circle-woudrichem-kdk-060412.pdf
• http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy/
Social_inclusion_and_integration/Integration_of_social_groups/living-apart-together_1115.html#

The information presented in this Course Module may not be the full information available on these Websites. The information may have also been augmented or merged.

This handbook is the outcome of collective work by the partners comprising the network. Professor Vlavianos Arvanitis, President and Founder of the Biopolitics International Organisation, compiled this guidebook. Thanks are due to Helen Papadimitriou, Lori Konstantopoulou, Ernest Vovakis, Christopher Dimopoulos, and Daniel Horn for their contribution and assistance during the preparation of the educational material, and to Thanassis Kontogiannis for providing technical support.

Disclaimer

“The information presented in this Course Module has been obtained from respected and reputable international sources and highlights key issues affecting sustainable development and the urban environment in relation to sustainable urban management. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information was correct at the time of the preparation of the final version of the module, we cannot guarantee that it will remain so.

It therefore follows that the developers of the program “Promoting Urban Sustainable Development in Local Authorities – PROUD” cannot accept any liability for losses or damage that might be caused by the application of this information.

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