The Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) has launched the Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Cities and Landscapes in the Pacific Rim.
The publication is the result of a multi-year collaboration of scholars through the APRU Sustainable Cities & Landscape Program.
It addresses a growing list of challenges faced by regions and cities in the Pacific Rim that are fundamental to sustainable development policies and planning practices.
These include the connection between cities and surrounding landscapes, the persistence of environmental and development inequities, and the growing impacts of global climate change. This handbook emphasizes the importance of place-based approaches and collaborative, context-specific policies that are specific to the areas where they are being implemented.
It features a wealth of case studies from the Pacific Rim, enabling a comprehensive scope to examine innovative policy capacity. The rich cases from the Asia Pacific region support cities in overcoming their need for research and evidence-based actions as highlighted in another report: “The Future of Asian & Pacific Cities published by UN ESCAP and UN-Habitat.”
Contributions to the book were made by 128 scholars based in the USA, Philippines, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Israel, Hong Kong, Canada, Thailand, Belgium, Indonesia, India, and Singapore.
APRU secretary general, Christopher Tremewan said a lot of scholarly output on sustainable development to date has been developed in Europe and focuses on settings external to the fastest growing areas of the world, such as the coastal regions of the Asia Pacific.
“This book appeals to scholars, researchers, and students in such disciplines or fields as landscape architecture, architecture, planning, public policy, law, urban studies, geography, environmental science, and area studies,” he said.
Edited by Yizhao Yang of the University of Oregon, and Anne Taufen of the University of Washington, the handbook will ship 9 March, 2022.