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Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World
by Brian Walker David Salt Walter ReidIncreasingly, cracks are appearing in the capacity of communities, ecosystems, and landscapes to provide the goods and services that sustain our planet's well-being. The response from most quarters has been for "more of the same" that created the situation in the first place: more control, more intensification, and greater efficiency. "Resilience thinking" offers a different way of understanding the world and a new approach to managing resources. It embraces human and natural systems as complex entities continually adapting through cycles of change, and seeks to understand the qualities of a system that must be maintained or enhanced in order to achieve sustainability. It explains why greater efficiency by itself cannot solve resource problems and offers a constructive alternative that opens up options rather than closing them down. In Resilience Thinking, scientist Brian Walker and science writer David Salt present an accessible introduction to the emerging paradigm of resilience. The book arose out of appeals from colleagues in science and industry for a plainly written account of what resilience is all about and how a resilience approach differs from current practices. Rather than complicated theory, the book offers a conceptual overview along with five case studies of resilience thinking in the real world. It is an engaging and important work for anyone interested in managing risk in a complex world.
Resilience and Aging: Emerging Science and Future Possibilities (Risk, Systems and Decisions)
by Andrew V. Wister Theodore D. CoscoOlder aged adults face many adversities over the later life course. This edited volume will address the ways in which seniors bounce back from different types and combinations of adversity – termed “resilience”. While research has been accumulating that identifies inherent abilities and external resources needed to adapt and navigate stress-inducing experiences among aging and older adults, gaps remain in understanding the unique elements and processes of resilience. A series of chapters included in this book will address several overarching questions: why do some older individuals/families/communities adapt to adversity better than others; what are modifiable behavioral protective/risk factors related to resilience; and how can we foster resilience at the individual/community level and which approaches show the most promise?The spectrum of aging-related challenges and responses addressed in this book include: mental health; physical/functional health problems; multimorbidity; socio-economic deprivation; social isolation and loneliness; cultural dimensions of loneliness; housing/homelessness problems; and environmental disasters. This book presents cutting-edge science at the conceptual, methodological, empirical and practice levels applied to emerging resilience sub-fields in gerontology. It will also present potential areas of future research, policy and practice linked to these areas.During a period of the most rapid population aging in the US, Canada and many other nations, coupled with heightened global socio-political change, extending our knowledge of resilience will help society to make important adjustments to maximize health and wellness of older individuals. Supporting and enhancing resilience through technological, social and/or community-level advances in geroscience will help those facing adversity to thrive by harnessing, stretching, and leveraging a wide array of potential resources. The promotion of healthier older populations has far-reaching consequences for health care and social/community support systems, both in terms of public health including pandemic response, and the development and implementation of innovations in treatment and practice guidelines.
Resilience and Food Security in a Food Systems Context (Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy)
by Stephen Devereux Christophe BénéThis open access book compiles a series of chapters written by internationally recognized experts known for their in-depth but critical views on questions of resilience and food security. The book assesses rigorously and critically the contribution of the concept of resilience in advancing our understanding and ability to design and implement development interventions in relation to food security and humanitarian crises. For this, the book departs from the narrow beaten tracks of agriculture and trade, which have influenced the mainstream debate on food security for nearly 60 years, and adopts instead a wider, more holistic perspective, framed around food systems. The foundation for this new approach is the recognition that in the current post-globalization era, the food and nutritional security of the world’s population no longer depends just on the performance of agriculture and policies on trade, but rather on the capacity of the entire (food) system to produce, process, transport and distribute safe, affordable and nutritious food for all, in ways that remain environmentally sustainable. In that context, adopting a food system perspective provides a more appropriate frame as it incites to broaden the conventional thinking and to acknowledge the systemic nature of the different processes and actors involved. This book is written for a large audience, from academics to policymakers, students to practitioners.This is an open access book.
Resilience and Regional Dynamics: An International Approach to a New Research Agenda (Advances in Spatial Science)
by Hugo Pinto Teresa Noronha Eric VazEconomic and financial crises have brought the rise of unemployment, reduction of economic growth and emergence of global imbalances and tensions as countries and regions have suffered the effects of a variety of internal and external shocks. In this context of constant disruption, the scientific community has struggled to provide satisfactory answers to current economic challenges within standard frameworks. Focusing on the interconnections between innovation and resilience, this edited book contributes to a better understanding of how the crisis affects innovation and the capacity of territories to adapt and evolve. It offers both theoretical and empirical contributions that debate the notions of resilience in regional and urban contexts and serve as case studies related to innovation strategies and territorial clusters.
Resilience and Sustainability in Urban Africa: Context, Facets and Alternatives in Zimbabwe (Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements)
by Innocent Chirisa Andrew ChiguduResilience has become a very topical issue transcending many spheres and sectors of sustainable urban development. This book presents a resilience framework for sustainable cities and towns in Africa. The rise in informal settlements is due to the urban planning practices in most African cities that rarely reflect the realities of urban life and environment for urban development. Aspects of places, people and process are central to the concept of urban resilience and sustainable urban growth. It stems from the observation that urban vulnerability is on the increase in Zimbabwe and beyond. In history, disasters have adversely affected nations across the world, inflicting wide ranging losses on one hand while on the other hand creating development opportunities for urban communities. Cooperation in disaster management is a strategy for minimising losses and uplifting the affected urban settlements. The significance of urban planning and design in the growth and development of sustainable urban centres is well documented. Urbanisation has brought with it challenges that most developing countries such as Zimbabwe are not equipped to handle. This has been accompanied by problems such as overpopulation, overcrowding, shortages of resources and the growth of slum settlements. There need is to seriously consider urban planning and design in order to come up with contemporary designs that are resilient to current urban challenges. There are major gaps in urban resilience building for instance in Harare and the local authority needs to prioritise investment in resilient urban infrastructure.
Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems (SCOPE Series #60)
by Lance H. Gunderson Lowell PritchardScientists and researchers concerned with the behavior of large ecosystems have focused in recent years on the concept of "resilience." Traditional perspectives held that ecological systems exist close to a steady state and resilience is the ability of the system to return rapidly to that state following perturbation. However, beginning with the work of C. S. Holling in the early 1970s, researchers began looking at conditions far from the steady state, where resilience is measured by the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the system is restructured.Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems examines theories of resilience and change, offering readers a thorough understanding of how the properties of ecological resilience and human adaptability interact in complex, regional-scale systems. The book addresses theoretical concepts of resilience and stability in large-scale ecosystems and the empirical application of those concepts in a diverse set of cases. In addition, it discusses the practical implications of new theoretical approaches and their role in the sustainability of human-modified ecosystems.The book begins with a review of key properties of complex adaptive systems that contribute to overall resilience, including multiple equlibria, complexity, self-organization at multiple scales, and order. Following the introduction are case studies that explore the biophysical dimensions of resilience in terrestrial and aquatic systems, and evaluate the propositions presented. The book concludes with a synthesis section that revisits propositions in light of the case studies, while an appendix presents a detailed account of the relationship between return times for a disturbed system and its resilience.In addition to the editors, contributors include Stephen R. Carpenter, Carl Folke, C. S. Holling, Bengt-Owe Jansson, Donald Ludwig, Ariel Lugo, Tim R. McClanahan, Garry D. Peterson, and Brian H. Walker.
Resilience in Ecology and Urban Design
by S.T.A. Pickett Brian Mcgrath M. L. CadenassoThe contributors to this volume propose strategies of urgent and vital importance that aim to make today's urban environments more resilient. Resilience, the ability of complex systems to adapt to changing conditions, is a key frontier in ecological research and is especially relevant in creative urban design, as urban areas exemplify complex systems. With something approaching half of the world's population now residing in coastal urban zones, many of which are vulnerable both to floods originating inland and rising sea levels, making urban areas more robust in the face of environmental threats must be a policy ambition of the highest priority. The complexity of urban areas results from their spatial heterogeneity, their intertwined material and energy fluxes, and the integration of social and natural processes. All of these features can be altered by intentional planning and design. The complex, integrated suite of urban structures and processes together affect the adaptive resilience of urban systems, but also presupposes that planners can intervene in positive ways. As examples accumulate of linkage between sustainability and building/landscape design, such as the Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park and Toronto's Lower Don River area, this book unites the ideas, data, and insights of ecologists and related scientists with those of urban designers. It aims to integrate a formerly atomized dialog to help both disciplines promote urban resilience.
Resilience in the English Small-Scale Fishery: Small Fry but Big Issue
by Tim Gray Selina M. Stead Rebecca KordaThis book is a contribution to our understanding of the worrying situation of small-scale fisheries (SSF) which face marginalisation in most coastal countries. The authors explain why SSF are so pressured; how there has been a powerful backlash against this marginalisation during the last 30 years; what are the main ideational currents supporting this backlash; and what is the enduring value of SSF that justifies that support. The authors discuss the major contemporary interpretations of SSF; the challenges facing SSF globally and in England; and SSF’s coping strategies in response to those challenges through the framework of resilience theory. In an innovative analysis, the authors show how there are three kinds of resilience: passive resilience (where fishers are resigned to their adverse fate), adaptive resilience (where fishers make the best use of the opportunities that are available to them), and transformative resilience (where fishers attempt to change the system that faces them). The authors draw on an extensive range of interview data to provide rich insights into the world of SSF, and they discuss a variety of proposals for improving their conditions. The book will appeal to the growing academic and public community that is following with increasing concern the debate about the future of SFF, and to the environmental movement which has committed itself to support SSF as a greener form of fishing than the large-scale industrial sector.
Resilience of Informal Areas in Megacities – Magnitude, Challenges, and Policies: Strategic Environmental Assessment and Upgrading Guidelines to Attain Sustainable Development Goals
by Mohsen M. Aboulnaga Mona F. Badran Mai M. BarakatThis book focuses on the socio-economic and sustainability challenges facing megacities in dealing with the dramatic population increases of informal areas and settlements (or slums), especially when coupled with the impacts and risks of climate change. The authors examine informal urban areas globally and in developing countries utilizing strategic environmental assessment (SEA) as a tool to solve the sequence of upgrading steps concerning slums and shanty towns, and also establish essential guidelines for local governments and stakeholders to create a balance and quality of life for slums dwellers, particularly in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, through applying sustainability indicators that enhance the upgrading process. Coverage includes recent statistics and mapping of informal areas worldwide and assessment of the GIZ and Sir Norman Foster models in terms of energy demands and consequential emission of CO2 and air pollution from slums. Three models of Maspero’s Triangle are also studied and assessed. The book is essential reading for a wide range of researchers, students, policymakers, governments, and professionals as well as a good source for research centers and academicians working in energy, climate change, urban environments, and sustainable urban development.
Resilience of Large Water Management Infrastructure: Solutions from Modern Atmospheric Science
by Faisal HossainInfrastructure that manages our water resources (such as, dams and reservoirs, irrigation systems, channels, navigation waterways, water and wastewater treatment facilities, storm drainage systems, urban water distribution and sanitation systems), are critical to all sectors of an economy. Realizing the importance of water infrastructures, efforts have already begun on understanding the sustainability and resilience of such systems under changing conditions expected in the future. The goal of this collected work is to raise awareness among civil engineers of the various implications of landscape change and non-climate drivers on the resilience of water management infrastructure. It identifies the knowledge gaps and then provides effective and complementary approaches to assimilate knowledge discovery on local (mesoscale)-to-regional landscape drivers to improve practices on design, operations and preservation of large water infrastructure systems.
Resilience, Response, and Risk in Water Systems: Shifting Management and Natural Forcings Paradigms (Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering)
by Hiroaki Furumai Manish Kumar Francisco Munoz-Arriola Tushara ChamindaThis book talks about the dynamics of the surface water-groundwater contaminant interactions under different environmental conditions across the world. The contents of the book highlight trends of monitoring, prediction, awareness, learning, policy, and mitigation success. The book provides a description of the background processes and factors controlling resilience, risk, and response of water systems, contributing to the development of more efficient, sustainable technologies and management options. It integrates methodologies and techniques such as data science and engineering, remote sensing, modelling, analytics, synthesis and indices, disruptive innovations and their utilization in water management, policy making, and mitigation strategies. The book is intended to be a comprehensive reference for students, professionals, and researchers working on various aspects of science and technology development. It will also prove a useful resource for policy makers and implementation specialists.
Resilience-Oriented Urban Planning: Theoretical And Empirical Insights (Lecture Notes In Energy #65)
by Yoshiki Yamagata Ayyoob SharifiThis book explores key theoretical and empirical issues related to the development and implementation of planning strategies that can provide guidance on the transition to climate-compatible and low-carbon urban development. It especially focuses on integrating resilience thinking into the urban planning process, and explains how such an integration can contribute to reflecting the dynamic properties of cities and coping with the uncertainties inherent in future climate change projections.Some of the main questions addressed are: What are the innovative methods and processes needed to incorporate resilience thinking into urban planning? What are the characteristics of a resilient urban form and what are the challenges associated with integrating them into urban development? Also, how can the resilience of cities be measured and what are the main constituents of an urban resilience assessment framework? In addition to addressing these crucial questions, the book features several case studies from around the world, investigating methodologies, challenges, and opportunities for mainstreaming climate resilience in the theory and practice of urban planning. Featuring contributions by prominent researchers from around the world, the book offers a valuable resource for students, academics and practitioners alike.
Resilience: Persistence and Change in Landscape Forms
by Sandrine RobertThe articulation between persistence and change is relevant to a great number of different disciplines. It is particularly central to the study of urban and rural forms in many different fields of research, in geography, archaeology, architecture and history. Resilience puts forward the idea that we can no longer be truly satisfied with the common approaches used to study the dynamics of landscapes, such as the palimpsest approach, the regressive method and the semiological analysis amongst others, because they are based on the separation between the past and the present, which itself stems from the differentiation between nature and society. This book combines spatio-temporalities, as described in archeogeography, with concepts that have been developed in the field of ecological resilience, such as panarchy and the adaptive cycle. Thus revived, the morphological analysis in this work considers landscapes as complex resilient adaptive systems. The permanence observed in landscapes is no longer presented as the endurance of inherited forms, but as the result of a dynamic that is fed by this constant dialogue between persistence and change. Thus, resilience is here decisively on the side of dynamics rather than that of resistance.
Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and Even Disaster
by Linda GrahamWhether it&’s a critical comment from the boss or a full-blown catastrophe, life continually dishes out challenges. Resilience is the learned capacity to cope with any level of adversity, from the small annoyances of daily life to the struggles and sorrows that break our hearts. Resilience is essential for surviving and thriving in a world full of troubles and tragedies, and it is completely trainable and recoverable — when we know how. In Resilience, Linda Graham offers clear guidance to help you develop somatic, emotional, relational, and reflective intelligence — the skills you need to confidently and effectively cope with life&’s inevitable challenges and crises.
Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back
by Ann Marie Healy Andrew ZolliDiscover a powerful new lens for viewing the world with fascinating implications for our companies, economies, societies, and planet as a whole.What causes one system to break down and another to rebound? Are we merely subject to the whim of forces beyond our control? Or, in the face of constant disruption, can we build better shock absorbers—for ourselves, our communities, our economies, and for the planet as a whole? Reporting firsthand from the coral reefs of Palau to the back streets of Palestine, Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy relate breakthrough scientific discoveries, pioneering social and ecological innovations, and important new approaches to constructing a more resilient world. Zolli and Healy show how this new concept of resilience is a powerful lens through which we can assess major issues afresh: from business planning to social development, from urban planning to national energy security—circumstances that affect us all. Provocative, optimistic, and eye-opening, Resilience sheds light on why some systems, people, and communities fall apart in the face of disruption and, ultimately, how they can learn to bounce back.
Resilient Asia: Fusion Of Traditional And Modern Systems For A Sustainable Future (Science For Sustainable Societies Ser.)
by Osamu Saito Kazuhiko Takeuchi Hirotaka Matsuda Geetha MohanThis book summarizes three years of extensive research conducted in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam as part of the CECAR – Asia project, which was intended to enhance resilience to climate and ecosystem changes by developing mosaic systems to strengthen resilience of bio-production systems through the integration of large-scale modern agriculture systems with traditional, decentralized small-scale systems. The book starts with climate downscaling and impact assessment in rural Asia, and then explores various adaptation options and measures by utilizing modern science and traditional knowledge including home garden systems and ancient irrigation systems. The book subsequently examines the influence of climatic and ecological changes and the vulnerability of social economies from quantitative and qualitative standpoints, applying econometric and statistical models in agriculture communities of Asia to do so. The main goal of all chapters and case studies presented here is to identify the merits of applying organic methods to both commercial large-scale production and traditional production to strengthen social resilience and promote sustainable development. Especially at a time when modern agriculture systems are highly optimized but run the risk of failure due to changes in the climate and ecosystem, this book offers viable approaches to developing an integrated framework of modern and traditional systems to enhance productivity and total system resilience, as illustrated in various case studies.
Resilient Cities 2
by Konrad Otto-ZimmermannAssembling papers originally presented at the Resilient Cities 2011 Congress in Bonn, Germany (June 2011), the second global forum on cities and adaptation to climate change, this volume is the second in a series resulting from this annual event. These cutting-edge papers represent the latest research on the topic and reflect the intensification of the debate on the meaning of and interaction between climate adaptation, risk reduction and broader resilience. Thus, contributors offer more material related to resilience, such as water, energy and food security; green infrastructure; the role of renewables and ecosystem services; vulnerable communities and urban poor; and responsive financing for adaptation and multi-level governance. Overall, the book brings a number of different perspectives to bear on the most pressing issues and controversies surrounding climate change adaptation in cities. These papers will prove invaluable to anyone interested in deepening their understanding of urban resilience and contributing to tackling climate change at the local level.
Resilient Cities: Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change - Proceedings of the Global Forum 2010
by Konrad Otto-ZimmermannEven with significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, a certain degree of climate change will inevitably occur. Adapting to climate change, then, will become a necessary step in reducing the vulnerability of many regions across the globe. This is especially true for urban areas where climate change has been shown to have particularly destabilizing effects. Through the identification and analysis of the most relevant impacts facing urban areas, this book makes clear the need to incorporate climate change concerns into the mainstream of local planning, governance and policy making practices. Adaptation as a workable concept within urban areas cannot be treated in isolation from the many pre-existing challenges facing cities. By offering numerous examples of ongoing adaptation programs and strategies across a wide range of contexts, the authors show the growing potential of cities in the fight against climate change. This book has its origins in a collection of papers originally presented at the Resilient Cities 2010 Congress in Bonn, Germany (May 2010), the first global forum on cities and adaptation to climate change, convened by ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. In this volume, the first in a new series dedicated to this annual event, a range of contributors bring their perspectives to bear on the most pressing issues and controversies surrounding adaptation to climate change within cities. These writings will prove invaluable to anyone interested in understanding and confronting climate change at the local level.
Resilient Communities and the Peccioli Charter: Towards the Possibility of an Italian Charter for Resilient Communities
by Maurizio Carta Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez Maria R. PerbelliniThis book explores urban resilience through significant, original and rigorous academic research, utilising the experiences of town planners, architects and decision makers to create a charter on resilient communities. The second part of the book presents mini-essays discussing the strategic points of the paper, and enabling more casual readers with the ability to access information on urban resilience. The book then explores urban resilience through the work and understanding of the institutions responsible for regulating the professions of urban planner, educators, professionals, and those involved in communication. Providing numerous illustrations and examples, Resilient Communities and the Peccioli Charter will be of interest to researchers, postgraduates, architects, urban designers and planners alike.
Resilient Computer System Design
by Igor Schagaev Victor CastanoThis book presents a paradigm for designing new generation resilient and evolving computer systems, including their key concepts, elements of supportive theory, methods of analysis and synthesis of ICT with new properties of evolving functioning, as well as implementation schemes and their prototyping. The book explains why new ICT applications require a complete redesign of computer systems to address challenges of extreme reliability, high performance, and power efficiency. The authors present a comprehensive treatment for designing the next generation of computers, especially addressing safety critical, autonomous, real time, military, banking, and wearable health care systems.
Resilient Control Architectures and Power Systems (IEEE Press Series on Power and Energy Systems)
by Brian Johnson Timothy McJunkin Craig Rieger Ronald BoringMaster the fundamentals of resilient power grid control applications with this up-to-date resource from four industry leaders Resilient Control Architectures and Power Systems delivers a unique perspective on the singular challenges presented by increasing automation in society. In particular, the book focuses on the difficulties presented by the increased automation of the power grid. The authors provide a simulation of this real-life system, offering an accurate and comprehensive picture of a how a power control system works and, even more importantly, how it can fail. The editors invite various experts in the field to describe how and why power systems fail due to cyber security threats, human error, and complex interdependencies. They also discuss promising new concepts researchers are exploring that promise to make these control systems much more resilient to threats of all kinds. Finally, resilience fundamentals and applications are also investigated to allow the reader to apply measures that ensure adequate operation in complex control systems. Among a variety of other foundational and advanced topics, you'll learn about: The fundamentals of power grid infrastructure, including grid architecture, control system architecture, and communication architecture The disciplinary fundamentals of control theory, human-system interfaces, and cyber security The fundamentals of resilience, including the basis of resilience, its definition, and benchmarks, as well as cross-architecture metrics and considerations The application of resilience concepts, including cyber security challenges, control challenges, and human challenges A discussion of research challenges facing professionals in this field today Perfect for research students and practitioners in fields concerned with increasing power grid automation, Resilient Control Architectures and Power Systems also has a place on the bookshelves of members of the Control Systems Society, the Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, the Computer Society, the Power and Energy Society, and similar organizations.
Resilient Energy Systems: Wind, Solar, Hydro
by Adrian V. Gheorghe Anatolie Sochirean Ion Bostan Ion Sobor Valeriu Dulgheru Viorel BostanRenewable energy systems are playing an important role in the current discourse on energy security and sustainability. Scientific, engineering and economic solutions are adopted, and their is a constant effort to understand mechanisms and options to allow a faster penetration of renewable systems in the current energy mix and energy market. Readers of this book will have access to information, engineering design and economic solutions for harvesting local and regional energy potential by means of solar, wind, hydro resources. It will enable graduate students, researchers, promoters of sustainable energy technologies,consulting engineering experts, knowledgeable public to understand the solutions, methods, techniques suitable for different phases of design and implementation of a large selection of renewable energy technologies, and to identify their sustainability in application and policy.
Resilient Governance of Urban Redevelopment: State, Market and Communities in China Since 1990 (SpringerBriefs in Geography)
by Bin LiTo examine the origins, characteristics, and outcomes of resilient governance with Chinese characteristics, this open access book takes Guangzhou, a typical Chinese city from 1990 to 2015, as an example. Through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and the collection of secondary data, this book finds that (1) the institutional context can be described as an authoritarian land-oriented pro-growth regime; (2) there are three phases with different patterns of governance: the Primitive Market Phase (1990–1998), the Pure Government Phase (1998–2006) and the Multiple Players Phase (2006–2015); (3) redevelopment can serve as a model of resilient governance because it changes in time in a dynamic environment to maximise economic growth; (4) an authoritarian land-oriented pro-growth regime is the key to support such a resilient governance model. This is an open access book.
Resilient Horizons: Building Sustainable Environments for Climate Adaptation and Health (Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation)
by Joni Jupesta Bao-Jie He Gloria PignattaThis book discusses the challenges related to climate change mitigation and adaptation. It adds valuable strategies and insights into the development of new practices solving the identified social and economic problems related to ecosystem deterioration and anticipating other disasters related to climate change. As the decarbonization of cities and communities became an issue of great interest to many researchers, the book in hand is of great importance to decision-makers and energy stakeholders and others seeking a more resilient and sustainable future and developing innovative technologies to overcome environmental deterioration. This book is a culmination of selected research papers from the first version of the international conference on ‘Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability’ which was held in 2022 in collaboration with Chongqing University, China.
Resilient Planning and Design for Sustainable Cities (Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation)
by Eric J. Strauss Francesco Alberti Abraham R. Matamanda Paola GalloThis book discusses a crucial paradigm shift in urban planning and architectural design, addressing the urgent need for sustainability and adaptation in the face of rapidly changing climate and urban landscapes. Ideal for urban planners, architects, researchers, and policymakers, this book weaves together cutting-edge research and innovative applications from the 7th edition of the international conference on Urban Planning and Architectural Design for Sustainable Development organized by IEREK in collaboration with the Architecture Department at the University of Florence, Italy. Through a collection of double-blind peer-reviewed papers, it offers a cohesive narrative emphasizing the vital role of spatial design at all scales. Readers will explore diverse case studies, from bustling megacities to forgotten villages, showcasing the local impacts of global challenges and the efforts to prevent, neutralize or mitigate them. With an insightful blend of qualitative and quantitative methods, the book uncovers the multi-functionality of blue-green infrastructure, the potentials of urban voids, and the urgent need for ecological transition. Unveiling the gap between current governance instruments and pressing challenges, this book serves as a compass for crafting inclusive, livable, and environmentally conscious cities and communities.