The New Urban Agenda’s call for long-term visions in urban planning fails to recognise that ‘long-term’ implies different longevities depending on context of assessment. Compared to other social sciences, archaeological approaches add rigour to envisioning urban sustainability over several centuries and millennia. The archaeology of the pre-Columbian Lowland Maya urban tradition is an interesting case because data have been used to support conflicting arguments about Maya urban sustainability. We suggest that these contradictions can be partly explained by: (1) sustainability being ambiguously defined, (2) subsets of the urban system being expected to indicate the behaviour of other subsets or of the entire system, and (3) processes being evaluated using different timescales. Drawing on 1500 years of urban history at Tikal, this paper examines how archaeological perspectives add depth of reflection and unfold critical assumptions of the meaning of ‘long-term’ and ‘sustainability’ concealed in self-explanatory notions. We outline the development and longevity of urban settlement at Tikal and analyse the blue-black-green (water, soil, vegetation) infrastructures that sustained urban metabolism and sponsored basic urban functions. Our analyses contribute new insights on the challenges associated with future sustainability transitions over varying temporal scales. The diversity of past and present urban systems and infrastructural initiatives cannot be fitted within a single narrative of urban sustainability, however, and much research is required to examine how blue-black-green infrastructures can support transformative change of aggregated human population zones struggling with potable water scarcity, soil degradation, and habitat and biodiversity loss.

中文翻译：

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可持续城市的增长和衰落：前哥伦布时期低地玛雅城市蒂卡尔蓝黑绿基础设施的多时相视角

《新城市议程》对城市规划长期愿景的呼吁未能认识到“长期”意味着不同的寿命，具体取决于评估的背景。与其他社会科学相比，考古学方法更加严格地设想了几个世纪和几千年的城市可持续性。前哥伦布时期低地玛雅城市传统的考古学是一个有趣的案例，因为数据已被用来支持关于玛雅城市可持续性的相互矛盾的论点。我们认为，这些矛盾可以部分解释为：（1）可持续性的定义不明确，（2）城市系统的子集被期望指示其他子集或整个系统的行为，以及（3）使用不同的时间尺度。本文借鉴蒂卡尔 1500 年的城市历史，探讨了考古学视角如何增加反思深度，并揭示隐藏在不言自明的概念中的“长期”和“可持续性”含义的批判性假设。我们概述了蒂卡尔城市住区的发展和寿命，并分析了维持城市新陈代谢和支持基本城市功能的蓝黑绿（水、土壤、植被）基础设施。我们的分析为不同时间范围内未来可持续发展转型带来的挑战提供了新的见解。然而，过去和现在的城市系统和基础设施举措的多样性不能融入城市可持续发展的单一叙述中，需要进行大量研究来检验蓝黑绿基础设施如何支持与饮用水作斗争的人口聚集区的变革性变化。水资源短缺、土壤退化以及栖息地和生物多样性丧失。