The recent COVID-19 pandemic has arguably caused some of the most noticeable and influential societal and economic changes since World War Two. This path-breaking book investigates these changes and the subsequent responses of urban policy makers.

Thirty-six interdisciplinary essays analyze the mutual relationship between historical epidemics and the built environment. Epidemic illnesses--not only a product of biology, but also social and cultural phenomena--are as old as cities themselves. The outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019 brought the effects of epidemic illness on urban life into sharp focus, exposing the vulnerabilities of the societies it ravages as much as the bodies it infects. How might insights from the outbreak and responses to previous urban epidemics inform our understanding of the current world? With these questions in mind, Epidemic Urbanism gathers scholarship from a range of disciplines--including history, public health, sociology, anthropology, and medicine--to present historical case studies from across the globe, each demonstrating how cities are not just the primary place of exposure and quarantine, but also the site and instrument of intervention. They also demonstrate how epidemic illnesses, and responses to them, exploit and amplify social inequality in the communities they touch. Illustrated with more than 150 historical images, the essays illuminate the profound, complex ways epidemics have shaped the world around us and convey this information in a way that meaningfully engages a public readership.

"Wide-ranging, significant, and readable...It will earn respect in non-academics as well as academic circles. A first-rate job."—Lloyd Rodwin

Regions and Cities at a Glance 2020 provides a comprehensive assessment of how regions and cities across the OECD are progressing towards stronger, more sustainable and more resilient economies and societies. In the light of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the report analyses outcomes and drivers of social, economic and environmental resilience.

This book covers the sustainability issues of a green environment towards economics and society in terms of alteration in industrial pollution levels, effect of reduced carbon emissions, changes in water bodies characteristics with respect to heavy metal contamination, monitoring of associated impact with respect to ecology and biodiversity, impact of reduced noise levels and air quality influences on human health, handling and management of biomedical waste. According to WHO, 80% of people living in urban areas are exposed to air exceeding safe limits. The advent of "sustainability‟ in development science has led planners to apply evolving notions of "sustainability‟ to the contemporary debate over how cities and regions should be revitalized, redeveloped, and reformed. Market allocation of resources, sustained levels of growth and consumption, an assumption that natural resources are unlimited and a belief that economic growth will „trickle down‟ to the poor have been its hallmarks. The recent advance technology helps to promote green and clean modern societies continuously. The Internet of things will be playing an important role in the upcoming years in environment protection and sustainable development. There is a focus on paradigm shift in the sustainable development for the green environment during the period of isolation of COVID-19. This is the moment for the mobilization against the climate crisis. The sudden fall in pollutants and subsequent blue skies signifies a dramatic shift for India and also other affected countries during this period. Fighting climate change requires a collaborative approach between all spheres of society unlike the former. It must heavily redirect resources towards local, sustainable activities, including education, health, sustainable agriculture and circular management of resources. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic which has resulted in the dramatic change in the different aspects of the environment. The global lockdown has led to a rejuvenation of nature, ecosystems, biodiversity. Even urban environments are discovering a degree of peace and serenity, which led to decrease in greenhouse gas emission.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Bringing together a range of experts across various sectors, this important volume explores some of the key issues that have arisen in the Global South with the COVID-19 pandemic. Situating the worldwide health crisis within broader processes of globalisation, the book investigates implications for development and gender, as well as the effects on migration, climate change and economic inequality. Contributors consider how widespread and long-lasting responses to the pandemic should be, while paying particular attention to the accentuated risks faced by vulnerable populations. Providing answers that will be essential to development practitioners and policy makers, the book offers vital insights into how the impact of COVID-19 can be mitigated in some of the most challenging socio-economic contexts worldwide.

This handbook provides the latest research related to quality of life and sustainability, taking into account social, economic, environmental, and political/governance aspects as well as specific socio-spatial contexts. The volume includes contributions from established and upcoming scholars from various disciplines and geographical contexts (Global South and North). The varying cultural and socio-spatial contexts of the authors in the selected cases contribute to first-hand knowledge on the realities of sustainability issues affecting the quality of life. The authors apply a wide diversity of methods and tools, which facilitates a unique understanding of the interlinkages between quality of life and sustainability. The chapters are grouped in three main sections: concepts and foundations; tools, techniques, and applications; and innovations. The authors provide their own view and theoretical approximation of the dimensions of sustainability, in particular on how these dimensions play out in relation to quality of life. The combination of sustainability and quality of life concepts and perspectives is particularly important in unravelling the multi-faceted nature of human, urban, rural/spatial development.