Urban Infrastructure in Transition: Networks, Buildings and Plans

Description

Achieving sustainable energy and resource use is vital if cities are to thrive or even function in the long term. Focusing on cities in the United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark, this book examines the mounting pressures for changes in the management style of utility services in Europe, pressures that stem from a wide range of sources such as liberalization and privatization of markets, tighter environmental standards, new economic incentives, competing technologies and changing consumption patterns. The authors show how changes in the management of utility services can contribute to achieving greater sustainability in urban regions. Whilst more efficient technology has a part to play, truly significant improvements in quality of life will be delivered only when the flow of material and energy through cities is focused on the goal of sustainability in each local context. 1. Cover 2. Title Page 3. Copyright Page 4. Table of Contents 5. Table of Contents 6. List of figures and tables 7. About the contributors 8. Foreword 9. Preface 10. Acknowledgements 11. List of acronyms and abbreviations 12. 1 Flow Management in Urban Regions: Introducing a Concept 13. 2 Urban Environmental Flows: Towardsa New Way of Seeing 14. 3 Battle of the Systems? Changing Styles of Water Recycling in Berlin 15. 4 Decentralized Technology in Centralized Networks: Interpretative Flexibility of Rainwater Percolationin Copenhagen 16. 5 Restabilizing a Heterogeneous Network: The Yorkshire Drought 1995–96 17. Conclusions 18. 6 Contesting Environmental Design: The Hybrid Green Building 19. 7 The Social Organization of Environmental Design: Residential Buildings in the Berlin Region 20. 8 Green Buildings in an Infrastructure Perspective 21. Conclusions: Understanding Green Design 22. 9 Local Energy Planning and Electricity Networks: Disconnections and Reconnections 23. 10 Infrastructure and Local Agenda 21: The Municipality of Albertslund in the Copenhagen Region 24. 11 Competing Notions of Reshaping Flow Management: Local Agenda 21 in Berlin 25. Conclusions: Planning for Sustainable Urban Flows 26. 12 Conclusions: Contesting Networks