Evolving cities into a sustaining and sustainable habitat

Abstract

The author teaches Engineering, Sociology and Environmental Studies on issues of how to deal with the social and environmental problems related to the use of technology. He is the director of the Centre for Technology and Social Development at the University of Toronto, one of 25 leading innovators recognized by the Canada Foundation for Innovation in 2002, editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, and president of the International Association for Science, Technology and Society. He is the author of The Growth of Minds and Cultures, The Labyrinth of Technology, and Living in the Labyrinth of Technology (University of Toronto Press 1985, 2000 and 2005 respectively). The text that follows is an edited and revised version of a paper presented at the international symposion on 'The Natural City, " Toronto, 23-25 June, 2004, sponsored by the University of Toronto's Division of the Environment, Institute for Environmental Studies, and the World Society for Ekistics.