1st Edition
Sustainability Citizenship in Cities Theory and practice
Urban sustainability citizenship situates citizens as social change agents with an ethical and self-interested stake in living sustainably with the rest of Earth. Such citizens not only engage in sustainable household practices but respect the importance of awareness raising, discussion and debates on sustainability policies for the common good and maintenance of Earth’s ecosystems.
Sustainability Citizenship in Cities seeks to explain how sustainability citizenship can manifest in urban built environments as both responsibilities and rights. Contributors elaborate on the concept of urban sustainability citizenship as a participatory work-in-progress with the aim of setting its practice firmly on the agenda. This collection will prompt practitioners and researchers to rethink contemporary mobilisations of urban citizens challenged by various environmental crises, such as climate change, in various socio-economic settings.
This book is a valuable resource for students, academics and professionals working in various disciplines and across a range of interdisciplinary fields, such as: urban environment and planning, citizenship as practice, environmental sociology, contemporary politics and governance, environmental philosophy, media and communications, and human geography.
1. Sustainability citizenship in cities
Ralph Horne, John Fien, Beau B. Beza, Anitra Nelson
Part I. Framing sustainability citizenship John Fein
2. The praxis of sustainability citizenship
Anitra Nelson
3. Urban resilience for sustainability
Alexei Trundle, Ralph Horne, John Fien and Ellis Judson
4. Urban food security and alternative economic practices
Ferne Edwards
5. Sustainability citizens: Collaborative and disruptive social learning
Arjen E. J. Wals and Frans Lenglet
Part II. Housing and social innovation Ralph Horne
6. Green housing developments: Sustainability pathway or cul-de-sac?
Ralph Horne
7. Structuring housing provision for urban sustainability
Trivess Moore and Tony Dalton
8. Co-working communities: Sustainability citizenship at work
Tim Butcher
9. Urban social innovation: Mobilising sustainability citizenship
Ian McShane
Part III. Place, access and equity Beau B. Beza
10. The gendered city
Annette Gough
11. Informal settlements: Sustainability citizenship in action
Jaime Hernández-García
12. Places for sustainability citizenship
Beau B. Beza
13. An Indigenous perspective on sustainability citizenship
David Jones and Beau B. Beza
Part IV. Citizen participation Anitra Nelson
14. Communicating sustainability in the city
Cathy Greenfield
15. The learning city for sustainability
Bruce Wilson
16. Curating the city: Encouraging sustainability
Tammy Wong Hulbert
17. Ethical consumers and sustainability citizenship
Tania Lewis
18. Futures for sustainability citizenship
Anitra Nelson, Ralph Horne, Beau B. Beza and John Fien
Biography
Ralph Horne is Professor of Geography, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and Director of the Cities Programme (United Nations Global Compact).
John Fien, formerly Professor of Sustainability in RMIT University’s Innovation Leadership Program (2005–2013), was appointed Executive Director of the Swinburne University Leadership Institute, Hawthorn, Australia in late 2013.
Beau B. Beza is Senior Lecturer in the Planning and Landscape Architecture Program, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
Anitra Nelson is Associate Professor in the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
"This edited collection is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the relation between citizenship and environmental sustainability. The authors approach sustainability citizenship as a work-in-progress, but the focus on its practical articulations — emphasising collective responsibilities, participatory democracy and ‘being’ rather than ‘having’ — provides conceptual coherence to the volume." – Benito Cao, Lecturer in Politics at the University of Adelaide, Australia and author of Environment and Citizenship (2015)
"Finally, a bid for the future that is different, imaginative and realistic: a vision which every reader can (perhaps should) help bring to life; a work that is not only against neo-liberalism, but is for an achievable humane alternative that is good for the world – its biodiversity, its sustainability and the wellbeing of its stewards. A must-read within and beyond urban studies." – Susan J Smith, Honorary Professor of Social and Economic Geography and The Mistress of Girton College, University of Cambridge, UK
"Achieving voluntary behaviour change to sustainable forms of living and consumption practices represents one of the grand challenges of the 21st century. The model of sustainability citizenship advanced in this book represents a critical and under-researched pathway to this transformation — beyond that more commonly focused on individual attitudes and behaviours." – Peter W. Newton, Research Professor in Sustainable Urbanism, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
"Sustainability citizenship is a concept which can constructively move discussion of social change for sustainability well beyond the limited framings of neoliberal discourse. This unique collection takes a major step in advancing understandings of sustainability citizenship by making clear that it is not only an abstracted idealist concept but something happening, and shaping the future, now." – Matt Watson, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Sheffield, UK
"This timely, comprehensive volume firmly ties the epic statement ‘global environmental crisis’ to human experience in the urban age. In stories charged as much with hope as danger, its contributors make clear that the serious species threat posed by the ecological crisis is just as much an opportunity for myriad forms of sustainability citizenship to evolve and flourish." – Brendan Gleeson, Director at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, The University of Melbourne, Australia