Law Commons^™

The Half-Earth City, Timothy Beatley, Jd Brown

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

At the intersection of the biophilic city and the global commitment to halt biodiversity declines lies the half-earth city.

E.O. Wilson inspired the global effort to conserve and restore half the Earth, to sustain remaining biodiversity, necessarily focused on areas where the human footprint is small and the conversion of land to anthropogenic land use is less pronounced. However, given the increasing urbanization of the globe, cities must also play a central role in the conservation of global biodiversity. Holistic ecoregional planning must account for the impact of cities and work to ensure that urban areas are built in harmony …

Smart Cities And Sustainability: A New Challenge To Accountability?, Iria Giuffrida

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

From 1800 to today, the global population has shifted from only three percent living in an urban environment to well over fifty percent in 2020. As a result of urbanization, cities around the world struggle to manage traffic and waste, efficiently distribute utilities, and lower pollution to slow the progression of global warming. Smart city technologies have emerged as a tool to process cities’ various forms of data collected through networks of precisely placed sensors and map solutions to many of the environmental and social issues created by urbanization. For swelling metropolitan areas in the United States, China, and Europe …