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Urban Ecological Footprints

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Sustainable Cities and Communities

Synonyms

Metric; Resource accounting; Sustainability measure

Definitions

Urban ecological footprint is an area-based measure designed to account for the burden a given metropolis’ lifestyle has on the biosphere. It identifies, using a common measurement unit called global hectare, the amount of land area and aquatic resources required with the prevailing technology to continuously sustain a given population. This result includes the energy and material inputs needed to afford its demands and to process or dispose of wastes.

Introduction

From its conception in the 1990s, the ecological footprint has been an important research field that resides in the evaluation of urban settlements to bring insights into urban sustainability. Its major strength is the direct measure of the natural capital (resources and ecological services) required to fulfill the consumption and processing rates of a given population and its relationship with economic development. The integration of this information...

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Correspondence to Claudia Y. Ortega-Montoya .

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© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Ortega-Montoya, C.Y., Johari, A. (2019). Urban Ecological Footprints. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Sustainable Cities and Communities. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71061-7_76-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71061-7_76-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71061-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71061-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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