My previous post that emphasized sustainable development as an urban problem garnered a comment and response from my colleague Jeff on his Blog. I can agree with Jeff that there’s really no dividing the sustainable development topic into rural vs. urban as it’s truly a global need.
I’ve been focused on the urban environment of late due to the growing population of city dwellers and the complex problems that cities face as the number of “Mega Cities” continues to rise. This growth of large urban centers can have a positive impact on the environment, provided that there’s a strong focus on livability and efficiency.
Rural areas are no less in need of a sustainability approach. In fact, the environmental outcomes of concentrated living manifest themselves in rural communities, and it’s critical to have a dialogue and connection between all populations.
When considering this big picture, I can’t help but think about the “System of Systems” approach. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems promises to integrate observations on the climate and environment for a broad-scale decision support tool for the planet. Observations are made through a sensor network that monitors weather, air and water quality as well as land observations from air and space.
This vision for improved data, information and models through a collaborative effort from governments around the globe has far-reaching benefits. Among the stated outcomes are disaster reduction, integrated water resource management, biodiversity conservation, sustainable land use management, better development of energy resources and adaptability to climate variability and change.
I see the implementation of GEOSS as a key pillar of our coverage at V1 Magazine, to meet our stated objective of “Promoting Spatial Design for a Sustainable Tomorrow.” The system of systems approach will need to be extended beyond scientific measurement and research to affect policy and feed sustainability at all levels.
The problems of interoperability that this large initiative will tackle should have lasting benefits for system of system approaches at many scales. Many similar approaches are underway for such interactive systems on the country level. I’m sure we’ll see replication at regional and local levels, with the benefits for individuals becoming compounded with the ever-greater granularity of observation.
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