54 Economic dimensions and socio-cultural patterns
These simplified statements lead to two important attributes of urban regions
(Fainstein and Campbell 1996, Ravetz2000,LeGates and Stout2003). Urban
regions today are mushrooming in population, a trend much more due to immi-
gration than to birth rate. Second, though housing goes upward in high-rises,
development spreading outward at lower density has a much greater effect on
natural resources and environmental conditions.Ecological economics for resources and the environment
For some characteristics, times, and places in the urban region, the
time-tested growth economics combined with regulatory economics work well
(Aghion and Howitt1998,Jones2002). But the third component, ecological eco-
nomics, is a key to effectively understanding and dealing with natural systems
and their values for people.
Here we combine natural resources and environmental conditions ineco-
logical economics,and differentiate this focus from the growth and regulatory
approaches (Permanet al.2003), although some economists use the core con-
cepts in a broader, and some in a narrower, sense. Natural resources include both
renewable and non-renewable resources. As might be considered in resource eco-
nomics, they include both inputs into the economic system and resources under-
valued or ignored by markets. At the other end are environmental conditions,
forwhich environmental economics focuses on the by-products of production,
wastes of consumption, and other human effects on natural systems. Ecologi-
cal economics thus addresses the broad relationships between ecosystems and
economics.
Notsurprisingly, since ecological economics provides solutions for major soci-
etal issues poorly addressed by other economic systems, it brings somewhat dif-
ferent core attributes to the table for society. These are summarized as follows
(Costanza 1991 ,Costanzaet al.1997a):(1) Humans are one important component of, and dependent on, the overall
system of natural processes and human activities.
(2) The core driving forces of preference, technology, social organization,
and basic culture all evolve in response to ecological opportunities and
constraints. This continuous adaptive evolution is not directional toward
an equilibrium, but rather produces a fluctuating non-equilibrium.
(3) Humans have understanding and intelligence, and can manage for or
against an economic goal.
(4) Individual resources are finite and the overall resource base is limited.
(5) The long-term future is given importance alongside the short-term.