Sustainable and smart cities

Matthew Kahn

No 6878, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: This paper explores the challenges and opportunities that government officials face in designing coherent'rules of the game'for achieving urban sustainability during times of growth. Sustainability is judged by three criteria. The first involves elements of day-to-day quality of life, such as having clean air and water and green space. The provision of these public goods has direct effects on the urban public's health and productivity. The second focuses on the city's greenhouse gas emissions. Developing cities are investing in new infrastructure, from highways and public transit systems to electricity generation and transmission. They are building water treatment, water delivery, and sewage disposal systems. Residents of these cities are simultaneously making key decisions about where they live and work and whether to buy such energy-consuming durables as private vehicles and home air-conditioning units. Given the long-lived durability of the capital stock, short-term decisions will have long-term effects on the city's carbon footprint. The third criterion is a city's resilience to natural disasters and extreme weather events. This subsection focuses on how the urban poor can be better equipped to adapt to the anticipated challenges of climate change.

Keywords: Transport Economics Policy&Planning; Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases; Energy Production and Transportation; Climate Change Economics; Population Policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-05-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-res and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Sustainable and Smart Cities (2013)
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