Write-ups and numbers that make you think - the objective of this section is to develop a sensitivity to the interrelationships and interdisciplinarity of urban environments. This is done by highlighting the problems and solutions, causes and effects, in UEM processes.Best practices and lessons learnt are also included ...
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A city's footprint is the amount of land required to provide its raw materials and deal with its wastes. London's footprint is 19,700,000 ha (125 times its surface area). This is only marginally less than the size of UK as a whole (area: 24,400,000 ha). Makes you think, doesn't it?
- OneWorld
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Bangkok is sinking at the rate of one centimetre a year due to excessive private tapping of ground water. This ground water tapping is not only lowering the water table, but also contributing to sea-water seepage.
- Source unknown
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By 2025, 'fully 88 percent of the world's
total population growth will be located in
rapidly expanding urban areas and 90
percent of that urban growth will be
absorbed by the developing world.'
- World Bank, Livable Cities for the 21st Century
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| The current world population: |
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| Mathas
Wackernagel and William Rees,
Our Ecological Footprint. New Society Publishers,
Gabriola Island BC, Canada or Philadelphia, PA, USA
The authors estimate how much land is required to support individual
persons in various countries in hectares per person. Taking into
account land for living, food production, energy production, waste
containment etc. they estimate that in Canada it takes 4.3 ha/person,
in the US it is 5.1, India 0.4, and the world 1.8. The authors also
estimate the fair share of the Earth's ecologically productive land per capita to
be a circle with a diameter of 138 meters.
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Contributions are invited for this section, either as new documents, or as additions and substantiations to existing documents. Additions are particularly invited to the Quick Tips section. Please use the email listed below for further communication.
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