Product Description

This book is an introduction to the ways in which the discipline of geography can be used to analyze and assess the emerging sustainable society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #232607 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 242 pages

Review

'This book is about ideas and approaches to sustainability [...] it is an excellent introduction to the topic for geographers' - Ian Gordon, University of Manchester Geography (Journal) 2007.

'Whitehead has envisioned Spaces of Sustainability as an introduction to the key debates and philosophical principles surrounding sustainable development and, in this regard, he succeeds admirably. In a concise fashion, he provides the reader with a well-informed and eminently readable overview of the key debates, theories and philosophical concepts, and policy initiatives in the realm of sustainable development. Furthermore, throughout the book he synthesizes a diverse collection of literature from both academia and the mass media and provides an eclectic and interesting array of real-world case studies drawn from a host of more and less developed countries [...] As a consequence, Spaces of Sustainability will serve as a valuable introduction for upper-level undergraduate students in geography, planning, public policy, and other social science disciplines in a wide variety of geographic settings' James, J. Biles, Indiana University, Growth and Development (November 2007)

 'What is sustainability from a geographical point of view? Whitehead, in Spaces of Sustainability aims to answer this question through a review of the roots of the concept of sustainability...' - Giuseppe Pellegrini Masini, University of Glasgow (2008) 

From the Back Cover

The turn of the millennium will be remembered for its opulent celebrations and underlying anxieties, but perhaps its most enduring legacy will be the prevailing concerns which were expressed at the time about humanity’s long-term social, economic and environmental sustainability. Climate change, global poverty, chronic water shortages, economic instabilities and dwindling supplies of non-renewable resources all appeared to coalesce at the end of the twentieth century to cast a spectre over what the twenty-first century would hold. Spaces of Sustainability offers a unique insight into contemporary attempts to create a more sustainable society.

Spaces of Sustainability provides an accessible introduction to the key philosophical ideas which lie behind the principles of sustainable development. This book introduces the debates surrounding sustainable development through a series of interesting case studies. These include discussions of land-use conflicts in the USA; agricultural reform in the Indian Punjab; environmental planning in the Barents Sea; community forest development in Kenya; transport policies in Mexico City; and political reform in Russia. Rather than depicting the search for a more sustainable future as a historically unfurling and inevitable process, this book uncovers the tense geographical struggles which surround and inform emerging brands of sustainability. Travelling through Africa and North America, Latin America and Western Europe, Asia and the Arctic, Spaces of Sustainability reveals the existence of multiple, politically and culturally specific forms of sustainability. In addition to exposing the varied geographies of sustainability, analysis also considers how sustainable development is being pursued through a range of newly emerging scales of social and economic organization including community spaces, sustainable cities, ecological regions and global agreements.

Written in an engaging and concise way, Spaces of Sustainability is essential reading for students of geography, planning, environmental politics and urban studies. It is illustrated throughout with figures and plates, along with a range of explanatory help boxes and useful web links.

About the Author

Mark Whitehead is a lecturer in human geography at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.