Urban sustainability: Lessons from organisms and ecosystems

Abstract

The services essential for urban life include provision of electricity and water, disposal of sewage and solid waste, and management of stormwater. In the past two centuries, the infrastructure providing these services has become increasingly large and centralized, which from a sustainability perspective is problematic. I argue that, to be sustainable, a city must be integrated like a living organism, while having the resilience properties of a mature ecosystem. For the provision of infrastructure, this means that today's massive, highly centralized facilities must give way to more distributed yet interconnected systems.

Professor Kenneth John Gregory (1938–2020): The career, contributions and legacy of an eminent geographer and fluvial geomorphologist

“…Edwards (2021) extends the sustainable river management theme of many of Ken's publications. He makes the case for a fundamental change in the way the services essential for urban life (provision of electricity and water, disposal of sewage and solid waste, and management of stormwater) are managed if the goal of sustainability is to be achieved.…”