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More than 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities, and the numbers are growing. For cities to become, or remain habitable, profound changes need to occur, both in cities themselves, and in the ways they impact the surrounding landscapes and hinterlands. Sustainability is an approach that directly addresses this difficult challenge and acknowledges that it can’t be done if the needs of the present are met by compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Achieving progress toward sustainability requires maintaining and improving both human and ecosystem well-being. Our challenge is to make cities centers of sustainability in the ways they develop and redevelop beyond the next century.
Views on the State and Beyond
A blog by Dr. Stephanie Pincetl
Los Angeles, the Improbable Sustainable City
To many, even Angelenos, Los Angeles is the poster child of all that is unsustainable. Sprawling, polluted, car dependent, artificial, pretentious, center-less, the importer of water, and devoid of culture and urbanity, Los Angeles is seen as the antithesis of a sustainable city.
Posted: 9/14/2011
Apples and Oranges? Comparisons between European cities and U.S. cities.
How many times have you heard the comparison between European cities and U.S. cities and the amount of greenhouse gases produced, the amount of fossil fuels used? U.S cities do not come out very well.
But what is being compared?
Posted: 4/11/2011
Did You Know?
Our Did You Know? page provides an ever-evolving collection of environment-related facts.
Mayor awesome: Against all odds, L.A.’s mayor stays green
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is about as green as they come. Since his election in 2005, Villaraigosa has instated a massive climate action plan, slashed air pollution at the Port of Los Angeles, pulled more than 2,000 diesel trucks off the roads, retrofitted more than 64,000 street lights with energy-efficient LEDs, enacted some of the nation’s strictest green building standards, championed the restoration of the L.A. river, created 51 new parks, slashed the city’s water use, increase
Posted: 3/27/2012
Capitalism vs. the Climate
By Naomi Klein and published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com)
Posted: 12/12/2011
The Center has the following main research themes:
- Integrated social-biophysical research on human environmental interactions and their impacts and feedback loops.
- Social justice and urban environmental sustainability through revitalizing and renaturalizing the urban environment.
- Research and analysis of systems of governance and government for democratic accountability and greater sustainability.
- Energy Systems and California Communities
Research Focus: Los Angeles and the Pacific Southwest
The Los Angeles basin is one of the world’s largest and most diverse urban centers. Heavily developed and populated, it is located in one of the country’s most biodiverse ecological regions, and suffers from some of the nation’s worst air pollution, traffic congestion, and threats to ecosystem diversity. Economic development and income is strikingly unequal throughout the region, with accompanying health, education and housing disparities. With over 13 million people, encompassing five counties, hundreds of cities, and thousands of special districts, it is politically complex as well. Thus it offers an extraordinary laboratory for the Urban Center for People and the Environment, to engage in coupled bio-social research so we understand the relationships between human society and environmental change.
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