Overview
An inspiring look at urban innovation in the face of climate change
Engaging prose from a professional writer makes the complex concepts of carbon innovation accessible to a wide audience
Examples from 25 cities around the world that show the scope and potential for global change
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Table of contents (14 chapters)
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Front Matter
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On the Innovation Pathway
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Front Matter
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Toward Global Transformation of Cities
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Front Matter
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The Road Ahead
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
In Life After Carbon, urban sustainability consultants Pete Plastrik and John Cleveland assemble this global pattern of urban reinvention from the stories of 25 "innovation lab" cities across the globe—from Copenhagen to Melbourne. A city innovation lab is the entire city—the complex, messy, real urban world where innovations must work. It is a city in which government, business, and community leaders take to heart the challenge of climate change and converge on the radical changes that are necessary. They free downtowns from cars, turn buildings into renewable-energy power plants, re-nature entire neighborhoods, incubate growing numbers of clean-energy and smart-tech companies, convert waste to energy, and much more. Plastrik and Cleveland show that four transformational ideas are driving urban climate innovation around the world, in practice, not just in theory: carbon-free advantage, efficient abundance, nature's benefits, and adaptive futures. And these ideas are thriving in markets, professions, consumer trends, community movements, and "higher" levels of government that enable cities.
Life After Carbon presents the new ideas that are replacing the pillars of the modern-city model, converting climate disaster into urban opportunity, and shaping the next transformation of cities worldwide. It will inspire anyone who cares about the future of our cities, and help them to map a sustainable path forward.
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
John ClevelandJohn Cleveland was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and spent the first 12 years of his life living in small Indian villages on the Yukon River in Alaska that are now "ground zero" for climate change impacts. Living in remote wilderness gave him an appreciation for the power of Mother Nature and the truth of the admonition "Don't mess with Mama!" Since Alaska, he has lived outside of Boston and in several cities in Michigan, where he worked first in state government economic development and then as a strategy consultant to small and medium-sized manufacturing companies, most of them automotive suppliers. Along with Pete Plastrik, he is a co-founder of the Innovation Network for Communities, and has worked with Pete in supporting the growth of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network and the launch of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance. He is coauthor with Pete and Madeleine Taylor of Connecting to Change the World: Harnessing the Power of Networks for Social Impact (2014). He serves as the executive director of the Boston Green Ribbon Commission, a CEO network that is supporting the development and implementation of the City of Boston Climate Action Plan. The Commission work has given him a deep appreciation for the nuts and bolts of city-based climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. John lives with wife Michelle in Tamworth, New Hampshire, where he greatly enjoys hiking, skiing, biking, and building stonewalls.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Life After Carbon
Authors: Peter Plastrik, John Cleveland
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-850-3
Publisher: Island Press Washington, DC
eBook Packages: Energy, Energy (R0)
Copyright Information: Peter Plastrik and John Cleveland 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61091-850-3Published: 23 May 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 285
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Sustainable Architecture/Green Buildings, Sustainability Management, Landscape/Regional and Urban Planning, Renewable and Green Energy, Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution