Sustainable Urban Management

Sustainable Urban Management focusses on the urban sustainability agenda of the European Union. Drawing on a major European Union comparative research project on urban environmental governance, it first reflects on the EU's 2006 'Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment'. By examining the approach taken in the Thematic Strategy, it explains why it did not have the impact envisioned by the European Commission. Secondly, and in response, it proposes a different approach to urban environmental governance, simply termed 'Sustainable Urban Management'. This approach contrasts with that promoted by the European Union, which is based on promoting common policy formats to different European cities and focusses primarily on traditional planning instruments.

The approach put forward in this book provides critical analysis of many existing suggestions to install or promote generic and common planning or governance formats in diverse urban areas. It is also more encompassing, extending beyond traditional planning instruments, and embraces the need for cross-sectoral and cross-jurisdictional working, whilst including both civil and market parties in governing for sustainability. It is framed around seven elements that are considered central to delivering liveable and sustainable cities and towns: principles, politics, partnerships, processes, policies, plans and programmes. The book introduces and explains the structure of these seven elements before then discussing each of them in-depth in separate chapters, all of which illustrate the approach through a range of empirical case studies taken from the 'Liveable Cities' project and subsequent studies conducted by the authors, as well as using the input of more than 100 experts from urban areas across Europe. As such, the book offers a practical approach to urban sustainable management that will be of interest to both practitioners and academics working in geography, urban planning, sustainability and environmental studies.