Suitable for those involved in the field of urban design and planning, this book presents the state of the art in sustainable development master-planning, setting out, mostly in a graphic format and by means of 60 illustrated case-studies, what is considered best-practice in the field.

In many areas of the world, environmental degradation in and around human settlements is undermining prospects for both socioeconomic justice and ecological sustainability. To explore the issues involved in this worldwide problem, Keith Pezzoli focuses on a dramatic instance of conflict that grew out of the unauthorized penetration of human settlements into the Ajusco greenbelt zone, a vital part of Mexico City's ecological reserve. The heart of the book is the story of what happened when residents of the Ajusco settlements fought relocation by proposing that the areas be transformed into productive ecology settlements. Pezzoli draws upon urban and regional planning theory and practice to examine biophysical as well as ethical and social sides of the story, and he uses the Mexican experience to identify planning strategies to link economy, ecology, and community in sustainable development. -- Publisher description.

This book--an outcome of the authors' ongoing research on the complex relationships between humans and water in an urban context--presents an integrated model for assessing and forecasting the sustainability of human settlements, particularly urban communities. After introducing the conceptual and contextual dimensions of sustainability through an extensive review of the literature on the subject, the authors go on to explain their model. They then elaborate on the methodology for its formulation, development and implementation. This model has also been used to analyse changes in the availability of water and open spaces, and variations in lifestyles, community attitudes and living conditions including sanitation practices, and waste generation and its disposal.

"Sustainability of human settlements has become a matter of global concern. This volume comprises papers presented by researchers, academicians, city planners, administrators, politicians and NGOs from countries like Australia, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Japan, the Netherlands and India at the international conference on habitat agenda and human settlements in south and southeast Asia in the 21st century. It consists of five sections dealing with planning for sustainable urban settlements, urban poverty, social segregation, gender in human settlements and the migration and human settlements. The analysis so presented shall go a long way to facilitate the custodians of human settlements for preparing themselves to face the challenges of the new millennium."