Urban Ecology - Ecological Systems - page 292

Underlying determinants of adaptive capacity

Social adaptive processes Biophysical adaptive processes

Range of available technologies
Available resources and demographic
distribution
Structure of decision making
institutions
Human capital
Social capital, including property
regimes
Access to risk spreading
Ability to manage and vet
information
Public perception of stress and
local manifestation

Species and functional group
richness
Resource stocks and retention
Key biological ecosystem
structures
Reduction of biotic sink patches
Scaled connectivity
Compartmentalization of
disturbance

Fig. 15.2 Underlying determinants of adaptive capacity in socio-ecological systems. Social
components derived from Yohe and Tol [ 57 ] and biophysical components derived from Gunderson
and Pritchard [ 58 ] and Walker et al. [ 59 ]

to carry sewage away from the populated areas. Ultimately, treatment was added, so
that downstream systems did not have to bear the burden of the displaced sewage.
Smokestacks were built taller so that local pollution was alleviated. Ultimately,
newer fuels or scrubbing technologies for coal-fired installations also contributed to
reduced pollution. Sanitary landfills were established, and odoriferous wetlands
were drained or filled. Many of the solutions employed in the sanitary city were
engineered tactics to deal with specific problems. The departmental structure of
cities followed this issue-by-issue approach, so that water supply, waste water, solid
waste, streets, housing, parks, and so on were dealt with by separate agencies of
municipal government.
The emerging sustainable city contrasts with the key characteristics of the older
sanitary city. Cities will always be heterotrophic systems, garnering food and other
resources from beyond their boundaries. Furthermore, they will generate waste that
must be dealt with, requiring commitments of land and other resources - an urban
footprint - that extends well beyond their geopolitical boundaries [ 61 ]. However, as
an ideal, sustainable cities aim to reduce their ecological footprint. A sustainable city
is one that reduces its demand and its impact on the environment by reducing
resource use and waste generation. Sustainable cities manage potable water, gray
water, and stormwater in ways that reduce flood risks, contamination of water, and
waste of potable water. They reduce energy use via building standards, landscape
design, and reducing per capita use of fuel in transportation. Limiting sprawl while
maintaining space for ecological processes and capacities in the urban matrix is an
important feature of the sustainable city. Hence, other dimensions of sustainability
must be supported. In the environmental realm, reducing vulnerability to natural and