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General Objective of the Module

The module will begin by exploring the issues of Urban Sustainable Development and the effects it
has on climate change. Teachers and students will get to know more about the different strategies
and approaches to urban planning, development concentrated mainly on:
• A change in the quality of growth.
• The conservation and minimisation of the depletion of non-renewable resources.
• A merging of economic decisions with those on the environment.
• A strong consideration of the needs of future generations.

Economic growth remains the mantra of major global institutions of governance, as well as of many
nation states. Indeed, sustainable cities became perceived as machines of economic growth in the
2000s. In terms of ecology, mostly technical innovations have been achieved, informed by the belief
that we can still grow, but grow “greener”. Sustainable development today often creates “social
injustices as unintended outcomes” (Pearsall et al., 2012, p. 935) resulting from the neoliberalization
of “best practices”.

New areas of research being undertaken include comparative analyses of urban development and
environmental policies in many European Cites, which have important effects of other areas such as
tourism; the comparative analysis of different urban systems and the links between technology, urban
development, transport and urban infrastructure.

Research into the use of project systems, essentially concerned with the management of the
development, design and construction of projects which form the physical urban environment in public
and private sectors is also ongoing. Management approaches need to be analysed in terms of
sustainability in the areas of resource use, quality and safety.
Urbanization will be the defining trend over the next several decades. Today, 50% of the world’s 7
billion people live in cities, and, by 2050, this will rise to 70%. Cities are home to extreme deprivation
and environmental degradation with one billion people living in slums. At the same time, roughly 75%
of global economic activity is urban, and as the urban population grows, so will the urban share of
global GDP and investments.

Topics:

1. What is Sustainable Urban Development?
1.1. Idea behind the urban sustainable development
1.2. What is a Sustainable City?
2. Cities of the future
2.1. Why We Need Green Cities?
2.2. How does technology support this process?
2.3. What are Smart Cities and are they sustainable?

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the

information contained therein.