With most of the global population and capital goods now concentrated in urban areas, cities are key to social, environmental and economic prosperity. But urbanization and the ever-increasing production and consumption in cities result in serious environmental problems in terms of the pollution of air, water and land as well as the degradation of ecosystems. Cities are today responsible for 67% of the total global energy consumption and more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions and these trends significantly intensify the severity of one of our great challenges of our time, climate change. Most of our megacities today are coastal, and that puts them at risk of flooding from rising sea levels and powerful storms.

But cities also offer solutions. They can increase their resilience and resource efficiency, they can be more sustainable. Sustainable is a city that creates the possibility for a better quality of life without using a huge amount of natural resources. In his informative book, The Sustainable City, Steven Cohen looks at case studies of programs and public-private partnerships from around the world, but with emphasis in the United States, that strive to align urban life and sustainability. He focuses on cities because they provide the dynamic, social and ever changing environment that humans can thrive. Cities provide the choices and the opportunities for people to realise their own potential, “we just need to make sure we don’t destroy the planet while we explore that potential.”

He explores the elements and the systems required for a sustainable systems from current waste management programs, transportation and public space to energy infrastructure and microgrids and draw the connection between sustainable processes and sustainable local places. It is a comprehensive and optimistic account that can act as a guide for anyone who cares in shaping an inclusive, green and sustainable environment, from city planners to businesses, to mayors and neighborhood groups.

Steven Cohen has produced a remarkable and well worth reading example of environmentalism which marries solid research with sopherific optimism. Don't get me wrong, this book is something everyone who loves the environment should pick up immediately. Anyone who loves the planet regardless of being left or right should pick this up. Why? Simply the stats and examples are so precise and comprehensive that it reads like a text book for a future society. This is how to do it, this is what you have to do, almost step by step. You can't argue with this research and exactness.

The problem, if there is one, is that the premise of the book appears to be that all you need to do is put the right technology and policies in place and before you know it we are ready for the future. The problem of inequality barely scratches the surface of this work. Waste is profitable, creating scarcity and having a strangle hold on resources is profitable and makes a small number of people powerful. Its not that we can't fix the environmental problems, its not simply a matter of following Steven Cohen's blue print.

Whether Kissinger actually said it or not there is some truth to the statement, "Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world." Capitalism is not about stuff, its a zero sum game of power, and in that game the environment bedamned.

Political Economic control and its concomitant sabotage on the shared wealth and resources of the planet is what's stopping the environmental crisis from being solved. That said, if we are able to solve tackle inequality of power and wealth, we should then pick up Steven Cohen's book to see how to fix the planet.

THE SUSTAINABLE CITY by Steven Cohen (Nov. 2017; Columbia UP) is a scholarly work that looks at "the sustainable city from an organizational and public policy perspective." Cohen has divided the book into three parts: Concepts, Cases and Conclusions. He defines a sustainable city as one which "facilitates human economic (production and consumption) and social life with the least possible impact on the environment." He looks at several systems (energy, water, waste, sewage, food, transport and public space) and devotes a chapter to examining the role of local and state governments in setting policy. His case studies are fascinating, including those from the US, China, Columbia, Japan and Africa. Cohen, a professor at Columbia, is honest enough to say, "While I am confident that the transition to a sustainable and renewable economy will take place in the world's cities, I am far from confident that I understand how the change will take place." He calls for more research, discussion and analysis, all of which should appeal to our students interested in the rapidly urbanizing world and related environmental concerns.