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Most of the world’s population now live in cities, but despite wide agreement on the core values of sustainable societies, municipalities are so busy solving current problems, they don’t have the time or resources to plan effective action for sustainability.

The Key to Sustainable Cities uses the principles of system dynamics to demonstrate how today’s problems were yesterday’s solutions. The book points to a new approach to city planning that builds on assets as a starting point for cities to develop healthy social, governance, economic, and environmental systems.

Gwendolyn Hallsmith has worked to build sustainable communities for over twenty years as a municipal manager, a regional planning director, and with the Institute for Sustainable Communities. She lives in Marshfield, Vermont.

Average Customer Rating:

A solidly written and accessibly presented resource

Customer Rating:

The Key To Sustainable Cities: Meeting Human Needs, Transforming Community Systems by Gwendolyn Hallsmith (Campaign Coordinator for the Vermont Earth Center) informatively studies what system dynamics can tell us about problems besetting cities today -- problems often caused or exacerbated by the solutions of a previous era. Scrutinizing illustrative case studies and offering new ways to evaluate environmental, economic, and social logistics in order to create cities that are best suited for not only present challenges but those that lie ahead in the foreseeable future, The Key To Sustainable Cities is a solidly written and accessibly presented resource which is very highly recommended reading -- especially for urban planners, community leaders, policy makers, environmental activists, and anyone else who is working for their city's future.