Sustainability and Human Settlements: Fundamental Issues, Modeling and Simulations

This book--an outcome of the authors' ongoing research on the complex relationships between humans and water in an urban context--presents an integrated model for assessing and forecasting the sustainability of human settlements, particularly urban communities. After introducing the conceptual and contextual dimensions of sustainability through an extensive review of the literature on the subject, the authors go on to explain their model. They then elaborate on the methodology for its formulation, development and implementation. This model has also been used to analyse changes in the availability of water and open spaces, and variations in lifestyles, community attitudes and living conditions including sanitation practices, and waste generation and its disposal.

About the Author :
M Monto is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (formerly ASTRA--Application of Science and Technology for Rural Areas), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He previously served as Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture and a Masters' degree in Civil Engineering. Dr Monto's research interests include sustainable architecture and human settlements, especially design, building techniques and practices that could revitalize symbiotic man-nature relationships. He is also involved with the development of integrated sustainability evaluation and forecasting models and decision support systems, including participatory community planning. L S Ganesh is Professor and Head, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras. His academic interests are in the areas of systems thinking and applications, data and decision analysis, project management, and technology management. His research has been extensively published in scholarly journals such as IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Project Management Journal, European Journal of Operational Research, and Socio-Economic Planning Sciences. Professor Ganesh's consulting expertise and training programmes for corporate executives and professionals have been frequently sought by leading organizations. He has coordinated many international and national courses, and has worked on nationally important research projects on topics dealing with sustainable development.

Review :
This timely document will assist readers to build upon and enlarge their knowledge of the broad interdisciplinary field of sustainable development. It will be of immense use to students, researchers and teachers involved in human settlement planning, environmental studies, urban and regional planning and development, architecture, large systems modeling, policy analysis and simulation. Policymakers, activists and officials in a variety of organizations and institutions will also benefit from this book.--Development Alternatives The book provides a macroscopic view of the concept, methodology and techniques of sustainability while signaling the world to take appropriate action to conserve the planet and make it a safe and better place to live in.--Development and Change