Sustainability and the built environment at and beyond the city scale

Environmental footprint analysis is used to examine the sustainability of cities by placing them in their broader geographic context. The 18th century (Georgian) city of Bath in the South West of England is adopted as a case study to illustrate the urban development process. It is found to exhibit an environmental footprint that is greater than its surrounding bioregion and some 20 times larger than its own land area. Cities only survive because of human, material, and communications networks with their hinterlands or bioregions. It is therefore argued that sustainability assessment can only be realistically applied for the purpose of land-use planning in this wider geophysical perspective.