ABSTRACT
Cities can provide healthy and stimulating environments for their inhabitants without imposing unsustainable demands on natural resources and ecosystems. A successful city, in this sense, is one which meets multiple goals. Such goals include healthy living and working environments for the inhabitants: water supply, provision for sanitation and garbage disposal, drains, paved roads and other forms of infrastructure and services essential for health and for a prosperous economic base; and a sustainable relationship between the demands of consumers and businesses and the resources and ecosystems on which they draw. Their achievement implies an understanding of the links between the city’s built environment, the physical environment in which it is located (including soils, water resources and climate) and the biological environment (including local flora and fauna) and how these are changing. Such an understanding is essential if environmental hazards are to be minimized, and environmental capital not depleted. 1
