Urbanisation and climate change are among the major challenges for sustainable development in Africa. The overall aim of this book is to present innovative approaches to vulnerability analysis and for enhancing the resilience of African cities against climate change-induced risks. Locally adapted IPCC climate change scenarios; which also consider possible changes in urban population; have been developed. Innovative strategies to land use and spatial planning are proposed that seek synergies between the adaptation to climate change and the need to solve social problems. Furthermore; the book explores the role of governance in successfully coping with climate-induced risks in urban areas. The book is unique in that it combines: a top-down perspective of climate change modeling with a bottom-up perspective of vulnerability assessment; quantitative approaches from engineering sciences and qualitative approaches of the social sciences; a novel multi-risk modeling methodology; and strategic approaches to urban and green infrastructure planning with neighborhood perspectives of adaptation.
#1075312 in eBooks 2015-04-30 2015-04-30File Name: B00VXT2UEQ
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Well-designed; thoughtful bookBy Lisa BrooklynI am a design professor with every version of these kinds of design method books. Each one seems to have different strengths mdash;nbsp;if not variations on the same methods. I liked this one for the descriptions of the methods and a strong introduction to the notion of staging in design. They are not so much instructional as an introduction into why this is useful. The limitation seemed to be that the images often were more metaphoric than descriptive and the text wouldnt make it that easy for a lay person to even begin to guess how you might do this in reality. Convivial Toolbox and 101 Methods might be better for more detailed descriptions. This also has a distinctive product/engineering bias to the methods chosen.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Good design guidebook or textbook with experienced filtering and direction required.By Bill DresselhausThis book is an acceptable textbook and design guide for product design; but one of several. I very much like the modular topical approach to the book so that I can pick and choose topics for class reading assignments in my product design course. Design methods in general also work quite well that way and this book has many good features in its topical presentations. However; a few topics are sometimes out of order in sequence for a design project: e.g.; some topics in "Articulate Simulate" might want to be earlier in the process as should be some in "Develop" as well. In addition; the content gets a little too esoteric and/or complicated at times with some overly detailed diagrams and a bit too much fancy "designerly" language and jargon. In a few cases; some statements are simply wrong; e.g.; on page 159 it says; "You need to be a trained and experienced design drawer to be able to communicate your designs effectively." This is simply not true as the book itself shows Dieter Rams rather simple concept sketches on the facing page in contrast to their "fancy" drawing samples shown on the same page. The books following statement also says that 3D models might often be better than 2D drawings to communicate best...quite true!!! I have had many; many students who have had great difficulty with sketching and drawing; but created excellent 3D digital and/or physical models to communicate their designs well (and definitely better). Dan Roam; in his great "Napkin" books on simple design drawing; might well feel the same as me regarding this subject. It is easy to succumb to believing two myths about design: a) fancy design sketching is essential for design skills and process; and even represents design itself; and b) design thinking and design process are esoteric and complicated; suitable only for a skilled elite profession. Though design projects can be very complex; design thinking and process are just not that complicated...it is mainly about doing. All in all; this is a good general product design guidebook for both design instructors and for design practitioners who have the experience to pick and choose the proper topics for application and use the books value appropriately. It can also be good as a student guidebook and textbook in product design as well; but in this case it needs experienced filtering and appropriate direction by the instructor.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Clark SchnellGreat product
