The Urgent Need for Advancing Urban Sustainability

The growth of global urbanisation and the unprecedented rise and spread of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are seen by some as two of the most important trends in the modern world. Another is the ever-changing needs and lifestyles of urban residents. To these three, we would add a fourth, which we regard as even more important than those already mentioned: the rise of global environmental challenges, including, but not restricted to, global climate change. This introductory chapter looks at the first trend (global urbanisation) in the light of the fourth trend, discussing the various environmental and resource problems that cities will increasingly face in the coming decades. Ongoing global warming is also expected to have a disproportionate impact on cities and the risks their residents will face, given their dense concentrations of both people and built infrastructure.