The answers to the questions of why and how people live where they live
as well as how they maintain and integrate with one another are
fundamental human settlement issues rooted in history and culture. Human
settlements are historically linked to resource availability,
fortification, and the mythos of civilizations. Cities play a central
role in redefining the interface between human beings and nature. They
have revolutionized the human experience by taming natural surroundings
and building environments that are human-centric--often narrowing human
life outside the experience of wilderness or the untamed. This book is
divided into three parts, it examines urban development trends, explores
perspectives in energy efficiency and agriculture security, and
considers policy development and future scenarios in human-nature
relations. It is a compendium of multidisciplinary work that challenges
the directions of modernity and offers reference to alternatives.
Authors come from a diverse background and international context to
address common overarching theories facing current geography-specific
problems. An interconnected overtone of the book attempts to link
accelerated urbanization and settlement location to how societies are
maintained and integrated. Human settlements are shaped by human ecology
and the relationship between humans and their interaction with their
environment. Two sectors central to human survival are specifically
explored: energy and agriculture. Cutting-edge, smart development looks
at the latest findings that reflect the on-going debate facing these
sectors. A human settlement metric is envisioned in terms of the past,
present, and future. This book is a unique attempt to combine a
rethinking about human settlements for scientists, policy-makers, public
officials, and people committed to improving urban life, society-wide.
Possible agents to resolving human settlement problems include
international cooperation and various mechanisms that interlace the
international community. Methodological and applied aspects of
sustainable management focus on topics such as adaptive knowledge
sharing, renewable energy, climate change, agricultural planning, and
policy development. An emphasis on scientific and technological
advancement, from a bottom-up mapping of society, elucidates a better
understanding of the role of knowledgeable societies in which need is
considered alongside how such need can be sustained--advancing towards a
more promising future.
