Infrastructure and urban sustaInabIlIty: lookIng back and lookIng forward Sustainability

Sustainability has become a very prominent element in the day-to-day debate on urban policy and the expression of that policy in urban planning decisions. The heritage of this interest lies in the steady evolution of ideas concerning the environmental and ecological impact of economic development. Beginning perhaps with the work of the Club of Rome but accelerating sharply with the insights of the Bruntland report, these ideas have been enriched via the Rio declaration as the debate over climate change and the effect of green house gas emissions has developed (Low, 2000). In this current period, the role of urban areas has become a more prominent feature in the discussion, perhaps underscored by the recognition that oil shortages would influence mobility in and between cities (brought into very sharp focus by the surge in oil prices in the economic boom that peaked in 2008).