New Springer book series inspires sustainable city development

Theory and Practice of Urban Sustainability Transitions provides new insights into how cities address the sustainability challenges

Heidelberg | London | Tokyo, 25 February 2016

Springer is launching a new book series called Theory and Practice of Urban Sustainability Transitions. The series will provide compelling new insights for an international audience by exploring the dynamics, challenges and breakthroughs in accelerating urban sustainability transitions in cities. It draws from the growing area of transition thinking and action that developed in the last decade across the globe. Aimed at professionals and academics, the series will provide rich insights and concrete, inspiring cases and strategies by comparing governance approaches in different countries.

The series reflects upon new visions for smart, low carbon or ecocities, as well as upon the role of low carbon technologies (hard technologies) and new forms of governance for sustainability transitions. It offers practitioners and policymakers frameworks for long-term strategic governance to deal with urban sustainability challenges and opportunities. Furthermore, it will provide scholars with state-of-the-art theoretical developments applicable to the context of cities. The five series editors are leading action researchers in transitions from the Netherlands and Japan. The first volume in the series Governance of Urban Sustainability Transitions-European and Asian Experiences will be published in the first quarter of 2016.

The lead series editor, Dr. Derk Loorbach, professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands and director of the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions, has been pioneering transition management from the turn of the century. He said, “Understanding transitions and influencing them in urban contexts are urgent challenges globally. This series will provide timely reflections of how transition studies and transition management evolve worldwide.” Another series editor, Prof. Hideaki Shiroyama, dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo, has actively introduced transition research in the Japanese context. He said, “The series will provide possible recipes for tackling climate change, aging populations, stagnant economy, reorganizing welfare society and zero carbon growth.”

Mei Hann Lee, Editor Life Sciences at Springer, said, “Cities are at the center of tough challenges and exciting opportunities. Cities, which account for 60 or 70 percent of the world population, the gross national product (GNP) and CO2 emission, are at the heart of the debate in achieving the climate targets set in COP21. With a foundation of innovative research and ongoing practices, Theory and Practice of Urban Sustainability Transitions will provide new theories, best practices and conceptual tools.”

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