Sustainable Urban Development and Globalization

This book equips readers with a deeper understanding of the challenges posed by radical socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural changes due to globalization and describes effective, sustainable solutions to these challenges. The focus is especially on the rapid urbanization processes in countries of the Global South, which are giving rise to dramatic new problems of spatial and social inequality and difficult environmental challenges in relation to climate change. Readers will gain skills and knowledge that will help them to develop an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to planning, design, and management of urban settlements and territories in contexts with a high level of social, economic, territorial, and landscape vulnerability. The coverage includes, for example, strategies to promote social inclusion, improve housing quality, ensure adequate education, protect cultural heritage, enhance risk management, and address issues in the food-energy-water nexus. Among the authors are leading experts from the Polytechnic University of Milan, where a multidisciplinary set of studies and research projects in the field have been undertaken in recent years.

Paola Bellaviti, BA (Hons, cum laude) (Architecture), PhD (Urban Planning), has had a long career as a researcher on housing and urban policies and participatory approaches to design and planning. She has worked both within academic settings (Politecnico di Milano; Politecnico di Torino; IUAV, Venice) and at other research centers of national relevance. In 2001 she joined the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) at the Politecnico di Milano, where she coordinates research programs, often international, focused on collaborative-participatory urban planning methods to improve living conditions and well-being in urban areas, especially in more marginalized contexts. In more recent years she has coordinated the activities of the Laboratory for International Cooperation at DAStU, applying approaches and tools for inclusive and sustainable urban development in countries of the Global South. She has also had a significant and continuing career as an Adjunct Professor on various courses and is the author of numerous book chapters and journal articles.and co-edited a further three. He is also the author of many journal articles and book chapters.