Routledge Net-Positive Design and Sustainable Urban Development

‘Sustainable’ urban planning, policy and design professes to solve sustainability problems, but often depletes and degrades ever more resources and ecosystems and concentrates wealth and concretize social disparities. Positive Development theory holds that development could create more net ecological and social gains than no construction at all. It explains how existing conceptual, physical and institutional structures are inherently biased against the preservation and expansion of social and natural life-support systems, and proposes explicit reforms to planning, design and decision making that would enable development to increase future options and social and natural life-support systems – in absolute terms. Net-Positive Design and Sustainable Urban Development is aimed at students, academics, professionals and sustainability advocates who wonder why existing approaches have been ineffective. It explains how to reform the anti-ecological biases in our current frameworks of environmental governance, planning, decision making and design – and suggests how to make these changes. Cities can increase both the ‘public estate’ (reduce social stratification, inequity and other causes of conflict, increase environmental quality, wellbeing and access to basic needs, etc.); and the ‘ecological base’ (sequester more carbon and produce more energy than used during construction and operation, increase ecological space to support ecological carrying capacity, ecosystem functions and services, restore the bioregions and wilderness, etc.). No small task, this new book provides academic theory and professional tools for saving the planet, including a free computer app for net-positive design. Review 'An excellent encyclopedic explanation of the root causes of current interacting environmental issues, this book provides an impressively detailed set of useable models and tools to address them, while welcoming debate. Drawing on Birkeland’s decades of academic research and practice, the book is both an invaluable education tool and a practical guide.'  ―Dr. Stephen Knight-Lenihan, School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland, has a particular research interest in local government urban biodiversity and climate change adaptation decision-making 'This is the essential textbook for every design practitioner. Janis uniquely synthesizes the vast ground of interdisciplinary practices required to transform the world of both physical and institutional design and assessment - and thoroughly details the what, why and how of it.' ―Peter A. H. James, has had sustainability leadership roles in multinational firms including Arup, SKM, Davis Langdon and E.C. Harris 'Birkeland’s visionary proposals for environmental planning leave no stone unturned. She carries the reader through a critical outline of models for sustainability to her own path-breaking conception of the "net-positive" approach. A comprehensive textbook on design and governance for architects and town planners alike.' ⁠―Dr. Ariel Salleh, is a sociologist with the University of Sydney who writes extensively on environmental ethics and ecopolitics. She is co-editor of Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary (2019) 'From the author who developed Positive Development theory comes another tour de force – a delightful guide for those of us disappointed with the direction of conventional approaches to wicked problems. By integrating the technical and creative dimensions of sustainable development (free online app included!), Birkeland’s new odyssey is a must-read primer for anyone considering deeds more important than words.'―Mirek Dymitrow, PhD in Human Geography and Researcher at Chalmers University of Technology, Lund University and University of Gothenburg, Sweden 'Birkeland is a true pioneer in the field of sustainability theory. This book sets out her key arguments and proposes a design tool to enable collaborative creation for "positive development".