Abstract
This paper points toward the need for transdisciplinary frameworks for understanding the nature and challenges of urban sustainability. It questions the conventional, anthropocentric approaches to sustainability, particularly their neglect to articulate the complex and material dimensions of sustainable endeavors. Anthropocentric sustainability is a controversial idea. It prevents us from being able to develop a sound analysis of ecological threats, and, therefore, it prevents us from elaborating effective proposals for sustainability and sustainable development. We need to step away from any conception of “the natural” as Nature. The meaning of “natural” is associated with sustainability, both in urban and non-urban contexts. Thus, we suggest that “ecology” and “nature” are concepts in opposition, and we elaborate a working definition of sustainability that is relevant for a situation of rapid urbanization in the Anthropocene. Accordingly, as discussed elsewhere (del Cerro Santamaría, Del Cerro Santamaría, G. (2019a). Megaprojects, Sustainability and Competitiveness in the United Arab Emirates, Unpublished Fulbright Scholar Project Proposal, New York City.), an urban context will be defined as sustainable “if it is planned and governed to account for the capacity, fitness, resilience, diversity and balance of its ecosystem. We take the view of sustainability as an organic process including environment, economy and community: form and efficiency (environmental factors in design, architecture, engineering and construction) as well as policy (urban plans and practices that explicitly aim at maintaining and improving the social and economic well-being of citizens).” We first explore the environmental challenges in a rapidly developing country (China), and we then assess the potentialities of innovation districts in the fostering of urban sustainability. After this analysis of empirical referents, we lay out the elements for a transdisciplinary framework that can guide the governance of sustainability in urban ecosystems.
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del Cerro Santamaría, G. (2022). Governing Sustainability in Urban Ecosystems: Arguments for a Transdisciplinary Framework. In: Abdalla, H., Rodrigues, H., Gahlot, V., Salah Uddin, M., Fukuda, T. (eds) Resilient and Responsible Smart Cities. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86499-6_1
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