Abstract
The arguments for sustainable cities are primarily couched in environmental and social rather than economic terms. Nevertheless the economics of cities is a central aspect of sustainability and a number of authors have endeavoured to incorporate economic arguments into the debate about cities. Lynch (1981), for example, preempts the Brundtland definition of sustainable development in the context of the urban economy. He sees the sustainability problem being one of enabling the urban economy to exist long into the future, whilst keeping resource use within levels that allow the earth’s finite resources to provide indefinitely, alongside social equity. Inevitably with economics there has not been a consensus.
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Jones, C., Leishman, C., MacDonald, C., Orr, A., Watkins, D. (2010). Economic Viability. In: Jenks, M., Jones, C. (eds) Dimensions of the Sustainable City. Future City, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8647-2_7
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