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More than 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities, and the numbers are growing. For cities to become, or remain habitable, profound changes need to occur, both in cities themselves, and in the ways they impact the surrounding landscapes and hinterlands. Sustainability is an approach that directly addresses this difficult challenge and acknowledges that it can’t be done if the needs of the present are met by compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Achieving progress toward sustainability requires maintaining and improving both human and ecosystem well-being. Our challenge is to make cities centers of sustainability in the ways they develop and redevelop beyond the next century.
Dr. Stephanie Pincetl's Blog
Urban Stewards: the creation of Neighborhood Maintenance Districts. An Ecosystem Services Proposal for cities.
Cities across the country are struggling to provide public services in this time of economic difficulty. While there is growing recognition of the potential environmental improvements that could be provided by the use of ecosystem services in cities -- services like trees, infiltration zones, climate appropriate landscaping and so forth -- paying for the requisite transformation of the urban fabric and for its subsequent maintenance is a challenge.
Posted: 7/14/2009
The Time Has Come
The Time has Come. California is the 11th economy in the world, the nation's leader in environmental legislation. It is also governed by a State Constitution that dates from 1879, a 2/3rds majority vote for passing a state budget, and facing a $21.3 billion deficit... What is to be done?
Posted: 5/20/2009
The Los Angeles River: Restoration, (Re)Invention? The Politics of Nature in L.A.
Plans are pending for a project to restore the Los Angeles River and return it to life. But is this restoration or the (re)invention of the river?
Posted: 1/21/2009
Did You Know?
Our Did You Know? page provides an ever-evolving collection of environment-related facts.
Did you know that most of our electronic devices are manufactured using Rare Earth Metals? Just what are Rare Earth Metals? They include indium, gallium, lanthanum, yttrium, europium and neodymium. Lanthanum is required to make nickel metal hydride batteries, used in hybrid cars. Neodymium is essential for motors and generators like those used in wind turbines. These metals are found only in a few places on Earth, and the US relies on imports for 100% of its supply.
Posted: 7/14/2009
Nitrogen (reactive nitrogen, such as nitric acid, nitrous oxide, ammonia and nitrate not the inert nitrogen that makes up 80 percent of air), is currently not one of the six gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol. It is, however, teeing up to be another gas to contend with. Its impact is complex, it not only has a role in climate change as a gas that is used in manufacturing, it is also produced during decomposition, and, it has serious biological impacts through its presence in fertilizer use.
Posted: 9/8/2008
Most LCDs, cell phones panels, televisions and computer monitors, semi conductors and syntehetic diamonds contain nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) a gas that has 17,000 times greater impact than carbon dioxide. It will stay in the atmosphere for 550 years.
Posted: 7/1/2008
The Center has the following main research themes:
- Integrated social-biophysical research on human environmental interactions and their impacts and feedback loops.
- Social justice and urban environmental sustainability through revitalizing and renaturalizing the urban environment.
- Research and analysis of systems of governance and government for democratic accountability and greater sustainability.
Research Focus: Los Angeles and the Pacific Southwest
The Los Angeles basin is one of the world’s largest and most diverse urban centers. Heavily developed and populated, it is located in one of the country’s most biodiverse ecological regions, and suffers from some of the nation’s worst air pollution, traffic congestion, and threats to ecosystem diversity. Economic development and income is strikingly unequal throughout the region, with accompanying health, education and housing disparities. With over 13 million people, encompassing five counties, hundreds of cities, and thousands of special districts, it is politically complex as well. Thus it offers an extraordinary laboratory for the Urban Center for People and the Environment, to engage in coupled bio-social research so we understand the relationships between human society and environmental change.