Financing The Ecological City
Author(s)
R. R. White
Abstract
A great deal of work has been accomplished on the physical aspects of the
sustainable city, but relatively little has been done to explore the alternatives for
financing sustainability in the urban context. This paper examines what has been
accomplished already to encourage sustainability through the application of
financial instruments such as traffic congestion charges, user fees for stormwater
management, materials recycling, and similar initiatives.
Together these instruments may be seen as constituting the field of ‘urban
environmental finance’ which may be defined as consisting of financial
instruments which encourage a transition towards behaviour which supports the
sustainability of urban systems. Whereas many examples exist of particular
innovations in this area, no urban government appears to have approached the
challenge in a comprehensive way using the framework of sustainable urban
development. The reasons why this has not yet happened are not difficult to find.
For example, politicians are usually reluctant to propose new charges even if
they can promise that they will be revenue-neutral. Second, in many countries
the urban level of government has very limited powers to impose such charges.
Third, some schemes require significant costs for data collection and other
implementation costs. Examples will be drawn from Canada, the United States,
Europe and South-East Asia, with a focus on transportation, water and emissions
to the air.
Keywords: urban finance, environmental finance, urban services, urban
infrastructure, full cost pricing, urban metabolism, climate change and cities,
ecological cities.
1 Introduction
A recent report of the U.S. National Research Council stated that: ‘Over the next
30 years, most of the growth in the world’s population is expected to occur in the
Keywords
urban finance, environmental finance, urban services, urban
infrastructure, full cost pricing, urban metabolism, climate change and cities,
ecological cities.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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