Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development (ESSD) is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal that aims to systematically develop the minds of aspiring scholars that seek to contribute to the academic community. We are currently living in an age of information where sources are widely available on the Internet. However, we at ESSD seek to efficiently utilize the available information to help create an age of knowledge. The journal's focus is academic research in all fields of Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development.
As a member of COPE, Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development (ESSD) abides by COPE's policies and journals practices to reach the highest standards in publication ethics.
Current Issue
Vol. 7 No. 2 (2022): Sustainable Urban Planning and the Divided Cities
The relationship between a city and its inhabitants is reciprocal by nature. On one hand, the city’s topography shapes its climate, resource availability, and overall livability. This in turn influences the demographics of people within the city, their traditions, culture, and heritage. On the other hand, individual characteristics that emerge independent of the city’s topography, shape the society that is present within the city, and in turn, the constructions created by said society.
Grasping these aforementioned concepts is essential for urban planners. Thorough consideration of both, what benefits the city’s environment, climate, and landscapes, in addition to the elements that uplift members of society and individuals, ensures successful urban planning implementation that enriches both the city’s elements and the inhabitants within it. While some strive for egalitarianism throughout society, however, others succumb to the influence of economic gain and wealth, tossing order and equality by the wayside, in favor of serving the affluents of society.
The influence of wealth on urban planning sadly takes place mostly in developing countries. Division is rampant and brutal in some cities, where the poor congregate in slums with barely livable conditions. Energy resource availability fluctuates based on the time of day, clean water is nigh to be seen, and the streets cough up dust, and beg to be cleaned. While the poor suffer in these slums, in fear of buildings crumbling over from the lack of structural integrity, the wealthy and prosperous influence governments, and create utopian gated communities, with lush forestry, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and a steady supply of resource and energy availability, where security, is, of course, their top priority. The unsustainable approach to urban planning in these cities continues with the concept of the commodification of public spaces. What was once a public space available to all, such as parks, riverfronts, and beachfronts, becomes an opportunity to extract wealth from the public. Businesses & private companies are set up in these landscapes, and entry tickets become mandatory to what once was a space available to all.
These approaches to urban planning are unsustainable, for division within communities sow the seeds of contempt and envy within inhabitants, and create a sense of division within communities, rather than the city functioning as a cohesive unit, working towards its prosperity. This issue deliberates on the topic of sustainable urban planning techniques that benefit all members of a city’s society, and work to move away from division within communities.
Topics:
- Sustainability in Urban Design
- Sustainable Energy Resource Utilization
- Smart Waste Management
- Inclusive Roads Designed for People
- Heat Island Effect Mitigation
- The Challenges, Effects, and Possible Solutions of Urban Division
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- Societal Cohesion, and a Sense of Belonging’s Importance in Cities
- The Rise and Inevitability of Inequality, and Approaches to Fair Distribution
- Social & Economic Dividers and Gates in Urbanism
- Urban Planning Methods for Societal Advantages and Solidarity
- Egalitarianism in Urban Design
- Innovations in Architectural Design & City Planning
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- Climate Responsive Architecture
- Utilization of ICT Technologies in Architecture & City Planning
- Creative Spaces: Public Inclusion in Sustainable Development
Research Papers
Upcoming Issue
Special issue (2023): Health of livable cities: environmental resiliency and climate change mitigation
In many regions of the world, where governments and policymakers have quickly grasped the negative effects of the disastrous path of unsustainable consumerism, the sustainable development paradigm is being promptly adopted. Comprehensive planning is necessary for environmental sustainability in a number of areas, including waste management, nature-based solutions, responsible urban design, and cutting-edge decarbonization strategies in cities. The development of dependable and strong public transportation systems that reduce reliance on cars, the incorporation of renewable energy into the infrastructure of urban areas, and material innovations in recycling and waste management are all methodologies and techniques that aim to improve environmental sustainability in cities.
As early as the 1980s, scientists began to observe that our climate was deteriorating. They properly foresaw the greenhouse effect that was constantly heating up our planet at the time due to the emission of exhaust fumes from vehicles and manufacturing operations. Since then, the detrimental impacts of using non-renewable energy resources on the climate have been well-documented and, more recently, have become plainly seen in the increased frequency of catastrophic disasters. Economic incentives for green manufacturing, the development of dependable and strong public transit systems that reduce reliance on automobiles, the incorporation of renewable energy in infrastructural city grids, and material innovations in recycling and waste management are just a few of the methodologies and techniques that aim to improve environmental sustainability in cities.
This special issue in the Environmental Science and Sustainable development journal tackles topics pertaining to climate change mitigation and urban resilience in infrastructure. The topics include:
- Urbanization and environmental health
- Green infrastructure and climate change mitigation
- Improving air quality in cities
- Sustainable transportation in cities
- Reducing waste in urban areas
- Public health in urban planning
- Resilient cities for extreme weather
- Energy efficiency in urban environments
- Climate change adaptation in urban areas