Calgary, Alberta is a culturally diverse urban metropolis. Sprawling and car-dependent, fast-growing and affluent, it is dominated by the fossil fuel industry. For 30 years, Calgary has struggled to turn sustainability rhetoric into reality.

Sustainability Matters is the story of Calgary’s setbacks and successes on the path toward sustainability. Chronicling two decades of public conversations, political debate, urban policy and planning, and scholarly discovery, it is both a fascinating case study and an accessible introduction to the theory and practice of urban sustainability. A clear-eyed view of the struggles of turning knowledge into action, this book illuminates the places where theory and reality converge and presents an approach to municipal development, planning, and governance that takes seriously the urgent need to address climate change and injustice.

Addressing a wide variety of topics and themes, including energy, diversity, economic development, and ecological health, Sustainability Matters is both a critique of current practice and a vision for the future that uses the city of Calgary as a microcosm to address issues faced by cities around the world. This is essential reading not only for every Calgarian working for a vibrant and sustainable future, but for all those interested in in the future of cities in a post-carbon world.

Noel Keough is a co-founder of CivicCamp Calgary and Sustainable Calgary Society. He was an Associate Professor of Sustainable Design at the University of Calgary and has published extensively on sustainability, sustainable community design, and low-carbon cities. Noel has been honoured to receive an Alberta Centennial Medal, Jim Grey Safer Calgary Award, University of Calgary Sustainability Award, and Calgary Award for Environmental Achievement.

Noel Keough's profile page

Geoff Ghitter is an urban researcher, theorist, and retired university instructor with a focus on the application of complex systems theory to both natural and urban systems. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment, and Economy, where his work centred on the development of low-carbon communities.

Geoff Ghitter's profile page

• Short-listed, Alberta Publishing Award for Regional Book of the Year

Sustainability Matters lives up to the authors’ goals of offering readers a collection of short essays exploring various issues related to sustainability firmly grounded in Calgary. The writing is brisk and the authors can turn a good phrase . . . these essays will be useful for anyone trying to better understand Calgary’s urban development and possible futures.

H-Environment