Where we live – A summary of the achievements and planned evolution of the Global Urban Footprint

The TerraSAR-X (TSX) mission provides a distinguished collection of high resolution satellite images that shows great promise for a global monitoring of human settlements. Hence, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has developed the Urban Footprint Processor (UFP) that represents an operational framework for the mapping of built-up areas based on a mass processing and analysis of TSX imagery. The UFP includes functionalities for data management, feature extraction, unsupervised classification, mosaicking, and post-editing. Based on >180.000 TSX StripMap scenes, the UFP was used in 2016 to derive a global map of human presence on Earth in a so far unique spatial resolution of 12 m per grid cell: the Global Urban Footprint (GUF). This work provides a comprehensive summary of the major achievements related to the Global Urban Footprint initiative, with dedicated sections focusing on aspects such as UFP methodology, basic product characteristics (specification, accuracy, global figures on urbanization derived from GUF), the user community, and the already initiated future roadmap of follow-on activities and products. The active community of >250 institutions already working with the GUF data documents the relevance and suitability of the GUF initiative and the underlying high-resolution SAR imagery with respect to the provision of key information on the human presence on earth and the global human settlements properties and patterns, respectively

Transition to sustainability: towards a humane and diverse world

Copyright: © 2008 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged.The environmental movement has made huge progress over the last decades. Among others, it has raised awareness of challenges facing humanity, helped develop a critical mass of policies, and worked towards the implementation of many of these policies in collaboration with other stakeholders. Now, however, we are at a turning point in the history of the global environmental movement. In order to rise to challenges of the 21st century such as climate change and peak oil it will not be possible to do business as usual; a step change will be needed. As IUCN celebrates its 60th anniversary, and marks six decades of global conservation achievement, it is also taking stock of the urgent challenges facing life on earth and reviewing its strategies. The key to future conservation action will lie in reconciling the needs of the environment with those of society in a manner which is equitable and just, and in promoting sustainable lifestyles and livelihoods as well as protecting endangered species and spaces. This document outlines IUCN’s Future of Sustainability initiative, the rationale for its implementation and describes how the conservation movement can play new and decisive roles in the transition to sustainability

Small is Necessary

Does small mean less? Not necessarily. In an era of housing crises, environmental unsustainability and social fragmentation, the need for more sociable, affordable and sustainable housing is vital. The answer? Shared living - from joint households to land-sharing, cohousing and ecovillages. Using successful examples from a range of countries, Anitra Nelson shows how 'eco-collaborative housing' - resident-driven low impact living with shared facilities and activities - can address the great social, economic and sustainability challenges that householders and capitalist societies face today. Sharing living spaces and facilities results in householders having more amenities and opportunities for neighbourly interaction. Small is Necessary places contemporary models of 'alternative' housing and living at centre stage arguing that they are outward-looking, culturally rich, with low ecological footprints and offer governance techniques for a more equitable and sustainable future

RETHINKING THE ADOPTION OF GREEN BUILDING RATING SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper critically reviews the adoption of green building rating systems in developing countries such as Indonesia. Most new buildings in Indonesian cities are replacing the already socially-vibrant urban kampungs; however, green building rating systems do not assess environmental, social and economic impacts upon the existing communities. The paper compares the motivation and approaches of the green building movement and green rating tools with the philosophies and implementation of the urban kampung improvement programme (KIP), implemented for years to improve the condition of Indonesia’s urban kampungs. Ideas and the means for developing more sociallyresponsible green developments are presented and a closer integration of KIP with ‘green’ urban development is recommended

Outlining where humans live -- The World Settlement Footprint 2015

Human settlements are the cause and consequence of most environmental and societal changes on Earth; however, their location and extent is still under debate. We provide here a new 10m resolution (0.32 arc sec) global map of human settlements on Earth for the year 2015, namely the World Settlement Footprint 2015 (WSF2015). The raster dataset has been generated by means of an advanced classification system which, for the first time, jointly exploits open-and-free optical and radar satellite imagery. The WSF2015 has been validated against 900,000 samples labelled by crowdsourcing photointerpretation of very high resolution Google Earth imagery and outperforms all other similar existing layers; in particular, it considerably improves the detection of very small settlements in rural regions and better outlines scattered suburban areas. The dataset can be used at any scale of observation in support to all applications requiring detailed and accurate information on human presence (e.g., socioeconomic development, population distribution, risks assessment, etc.)

Barriers to the Adoption of Green Building Materials and Technologies in Developing Countries: The Case of Burkina Faso

This research examines barriers to the adoption of green building materials and technologies in developing countries, using the case of Burkina Faso. Developing countries understand the need to incorporate sustainability as part of their national agenda; however, their ability to implement it is hampered by actual and/or perceived barriers. To gain insight on these barriers, this study solicited perceptions from various stakeholders from the design and construction field in Burkina Faso. The barriers explored in this research are grouped into the following five categories as defined in the literature: (1) government, (2) human, (3) knowledge and information, (4) market, and (5) cost and risk. A mixed method sequential exploratory design using both quantitative (i.e., online questionnaire) and qualitative (i.e., semi-structured interview) tools was carried out. In the quantitative phase, descriptive and inferential analysis was employed to identify the most prevalent barriers within the five categories in Burkina Faso. In the qualitative phase, data was gathered from interviews and archival data, and inductive analysis was used to develop interpretive themes and explanatory concepts. The findings from the two phases identified 31 barriers to the adoption of green building materials and technologies, with 14 barriers specific to Burkina Faso itself. These barriers were either confirmed by the literature or identified as specific to Burkina Faso. Findings were compared to the existing literature from the United States of America as a representative of developed countries to help anticipate how to avoid barriers as Burkina Faso develops its built environment. From the understanding of the barriers, guidelines were developed, which are the first step to initiate changes in policies and practices aimed at increasing green design and construction in Burkina Faso, and in West Africa in general