Eco-cities

This book explores the question of how urban sustainability can be achieved despite a lack of knowledge integration between different fields. This book starts from the premise that the battle for sustainability will be won or lost in cities and proposes a critical, up-to-date review of transdisciplinary knowledge management tools – notably, scenario methods for informed decision-making. Drawing from literature and pioneering experience in innovation clusters (university-industry-government) during the last decade, it provides a review of recent eco-city concepts and knowledge management tools for effective decision-making in the transition to urban sustainability. Using method outlines, case studies, and graphical representations, it is intended to serve as a toolbox for those interested in urban transformation towards sustainability.

The challenge of sustainability is unprecedented in the history of humanity. The world population is already predominantly urban, andthe biosphere is profoundly transformed in ways which we can only partially understand, let alone manage. For example, the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change has produced very impressive sets of global climate scenarios, but the consequences for real-world management remain marginal.


This book is intended for city managers concerned with urban transformation towards sustainability, policymakers, researchers-innovators, and technology developers, industry and business professionals, as well as students and the general public.

• Eco-cities and Innovation
• Eco-cities and Sustainability
• Eco-city Concepts and Knowledge Management Tools
• Eco-city and Urban Biosphere
• Green Building
• Scenarios for Innovation and Sustainability
• Urban Population and Climate Change
• Urban Transformation and Sustainability

• University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Guyancourt, France

  Ioan M. Ciumasu

Dr. Ioan M. Ciumasu is the President of the Institute of Innovation for Transition to Sustainability – INTRAS in Paris, France. He holds a magna cum laude PhD from the Technical University Munich. He functioned as a visiting scientist at the GSF/Helmholtz Research Centre for Environmental Health, Institute of Ecological Chemistry (2001-2004), Neuherberg-Munich, Germany; Scientific coordinator of the Centre of Expertise for Sustainable Exploitation of Ecosystems (CEXDUREC) at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (UAIC) of Iasi, Romania (2005-2010); Assistant Professor/Professeur Associé and Director of the International Professional Master in Management of Eco-innovation at the University of Versailles Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) (2010-2013). Since 2010, he has been involved in research-innovation and education networks of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (Climate KIC); he has served on the selection jury of ACES Awardsby Science|Business and on the board of directors of Observatoire de Versailles Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines (OVSQ). He is concerned with environmental technologies and knowledge management methods for urban sustainability and eco-innovation. He works on projects that bring together universities, businesses, and governmental bodies into a dynamic cross-sectoral experimentation: models, scenarios, and demonstrators.

Policies and ethics