Greenbelt Plan

"The Greenbelt is the cornerstone of Ontario's Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan (Growth Plan) which is an overarching strategy that provides clarity and certainty about urban structure, where and how future growth should be accommodated and what must be protected for current and future generations ... The Greenbelt Plan includes lands within, and builds upon the ecological protections provided by, the Niagara Escarpment Plan (NEP) and the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP)."--Introduction.

Comprising a collection of papers from the 4th International Conference on Environmental and Economic Impact on Sustainable Development, the research studies included in this book consider the impact of economic constraints on the environment, taking into account the social aspects as well as the over-use of natural resources. The papers examine issues related to whether some forms of development are compatible with environmental protection, particularly in cases of possible serious contamination and toxicity. Uncontrolled development can result in damage to the environment in terms of the release of toxic substances and hazardous waste. Addressing problems of great importance, this book examines more constructive and progressive approaches to ensure sustainability. A major motivation is to learn from past failure, to avoid repeating similar mistakes, while attempting to prevent emerging threats to environmental and ecological systems. Fundamental to these concepts are the analysis of the inherent risk and the development of appropriate strategies.

Planning Canadian Regions was the first book to integrate the history, contemporary practice, and emergent issues of regional planning in Canada. This much-anticipated second edition brings the discussion up to date, applying the same thorough analysis to illuminate the rapid changes now shaping our regional landscapes and their planning. Special attention is paid to the regional planning dimensions of climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability, the development inequities faced in peripheral resource regions, the special role of Indigenous peoples in regional planning, and the distinctive planning needs of metropolitan regions across the country. This book challenges planners, educators, and policy makers to engage with the latest thinking and strive for best practices in twenty-first century regional planning.

Most new urban growth takes place in the suburbs; consequently, infrastructures are in a constant state of playing catch-up, creating repeated infrastructure crises in these peripheries. However, the push to address the tensions stemming from this rapid growth also allow the suburbs to be a major source of urban innovation. Taking a critical social science perspective to identify political, economic, social, and environmental issues related to suburban infrastructures, this book highlights the similarities and differences between suburban infrastructure conditions encountered in the Global North and Global South. Adopting an international approach grounded in case studies from three continents, this book discusses infrastructure issues within different suburban and societal contexts: low-density infrastructure-rich Global North suburban areas, rapidly developing Chinese suburbs, and the deeply socially stratified suburbs of poor Global South countries. Despite stark differences between types of suburbs, there are features common to all suburban areas irrespective of their location, and similarities in the infrastructure issues confronting these different categories of suburbs.

Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and magnitude of coastal storms around the globe, and the anticipated rise of sea levels will have enormous impact on fragile and vulnerable coastal regions. In the U.S., more than 50% of the population inhabits coastal areas. In Planning for Coastal Resilience, Tim Beatley argues that, in the face of such threats, all future coastal planning and management must reflect a commitment to the concept of resilience. In this timely book, he writes that coastal resilience must become the primary design and planning principle to guide all future development and all future infrastructure decisions. Resilience, Beatley explains, is a profoundly new way of viewing coastal infrastructure—an approach that values smaller, decentralized kinds of energy, water, and transport more suited to the serious physical conditions coastal communities will likely face. Implicit in the notion is an emphasis on taking steps to build adaptive capacity, to be ready ahead of a crisis or disaster. It is anticipatory, conscious, and intentional in its outlook. After defining and explaining coastal resilience, Beatley focuses on what it means in practice. Resilience goes beyond reactive steps to prevent or handle a disaster. It takes a holistic approach to what makes a community resilient, including such factors as social capital and sense of place. Beatley provides case studies of five U.S. coastal communities, and “resilience profiles” of six North American communities, to suggest best practices and to propose guidelines for increasing resilience in threatened communities.