Articles

Analysing and managing urban growth

Marie Jaegly — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:21:02 +0100

Over the last decades, continuous urban expansion at rates much higher than population growth has resulted in a massive urban footprint on Europe – fragmenting rural space, blocking ecosystem services and increasing the demand for transport and energy.

Urban soil sealing in Europe

Nicole Kobosil — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 10:25:00 +0100

Soil is the earth's living skin and provides us with essential services for life in our planet: production of food; infiltration and cleansing of water and protection against flooding; habitat for plants; areas for recreation and mental health; micro climate regulation, etc. It is such a crucial resource that it can't be ignored. However, particularly in urban areas, soil is being sealed off with increasing housing and infrastructure.

The time is ripe for green accounting

Marie Jaegly — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:29:08 +0200

The shortcomings of GDP as a measure of economic and social wellbeing have been recognised for decades. Now the economic and environmental crises have created the political momentum for a radical revision of national accounting methods.