As of October 31, 2011, the world population has reached 7 billion people (Collins, 2012). The growth rate of humans continue to be staggering, this generates a demand to change the land use, the allocation of resources, and more importantly the realization of the environmental pressures associated with more development (Ascione, 2009). The exponential growth of human development in the recent years has given rise to awareness to the natural ecosystem (Savard & Clergeau, 2000). This awareness towards the environment has created environmental planning. Environmental planning entails facilitating decisions with consideration to the social, political, economic, and natural environment in order to provide a relationship that balances between the environment and human system.
The next level of environmental planning would be ecological city (eco-city) planning. It is here that the balance between environment and human systems is more heavily weighted on the environment. Eco-city planning encompasses developing a city in which there is zero emissions or pollution, near zero solid waste, use of local materials, minimizing life cycles, minimizing virtual values of non-renewable resources, and providing good public health and amenities. (Novotny, Ahern, & Brown, 2010). The principle of an eco-city is to live in harmony with nature while enhancing the quality of life through decentralization and diversity (Roseland, 1997). Eco-city planning aims for perfection in which preserving, enhancing, increasing natural features and environment, and minimizing development impacts on the natural environment are the goals. As utopian as this may seem, the shift towards eco-city planning is a far outcry from reality. This report will argue that narrowi...
... middle of paper ...
...sdar City. (2011). Retrieved from Masdar City: http://masdarcity.ae/en/
Novotny, v., Ahern, J., & Brown, P. (2010). Water Centric Sunstainable communities: Planning, Retrofitting, and building the Next Urban Environment.
Plottel, S. (2013, April 24). Dashed Dreams of an Eco-City: The Failure of Dongtan Eco-City on Chongming Island, China. Retrieved from Global Site Plans: http://globalsiteplans.com/environmental-design/architecture-environmental-design/dashed-dreams-of-an-eco-city-the-failure-of-dongtan-eco-city-on-chongming-island-china/
Premalatha, M., Tauseef, S., & Abbasi, T. (2013). The Promise and the Performance of the World's First Two Zero Carbon Cities. Elsevier, 660-669.
Roseland, M. (1997). Dimensions of the eco-city. Elsevier Science Ltd, 197-202.
Savard, J.-P. L., & Clergeau, P. M. (2000). Biodviersity Concepts and Urban Ecosystems. Elsevier, 131-142.
Finally in 1991, the federal government initiated a ‘Better Cities Program’ which aimed to make Australian cities sustainable and more liveable. It encoura...
With such industrialization and the grit and grime of the city life, city planners decided that more “green space” was needed in the most centralized locations. This included small parks, ornate flower gardens, planting of trees, and lush vegetation. These areas of supposed relaxation and tranquility were highly controlled, though, and were illusions of the rural lifestyle, designed to distract citizens from dirty life and allow them to practice good manners and remain solitary.
Through past generations we have seen exemplifications of considerable innovation among city and municipal authorities in Canada regarding sustainable development. Due to Canada’s population density and the number of cities apart of it- I chose to study the sustainability of the city closest to my heart, my home, the City of Pickering. Sustainable development “is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”(Brundtland, 1987) The city of pickering is in the midst of a transformation from a suburban community to a sustainable city. “By 2031, the Region of Durham is expected to grow by 430,00 people and 160,000 jobs.” (Bodgan, 2007) It is estimated that Pickering
Raven, Peter H., Linda R. Berg, and David M. Hassenzahl. "Wiley: Environment, 6th Edition." Wiley: Home. Web. 05 Feb. 2012. .
The city I propose as a perfect city, would be as close to an ecocity as possible, although have some differences. For example, for electrical needs, I would suggest the city have a solar power plant, but on those desperate times, energy would be bought from other electrical plants from nearby towns or states.
There is no doubt that human activity is having a significant impact on our environment. These environmental impacts include depleting our natural resources, air and water pollution, climate change, destruction of habitats, and loss of biodiversity. Because of these growing concerns, we need to learn how to live sustainably. Living sustainably will allow us to conserve our limited resources more wisely so they will be available for future generations (Withgott & Brennan, 2011, Chapter 1).
In this regard, city authorities all over the world are increasingly adopting energy efficiency measures in a quest to become sustainable into the future. Consequently, this has led to the emergence of the term ‘green cities’ (Aulisi & Hanson, 2004). New York City, viewed by many as an urban, concrete jungle, was recently named the “greenest city" in the United States. This is mainly because most of its residents live in energy-efficient buildings, and use public transport, bicycl...
Indeed, many global cities face compelling urban planning issues like urban sprawl, population, low density development, overuse of non-renewable natural recourses, social inequities and environmental degradation. These issues affect the cities themselves, the adjacent regions and often even globally. The resulting ecological footprint upsets the balance in adjacent rural and natural areas. Unplanned or organic development leads to urban sprawl, traffic problems, pollution and slums (as evident in the case of Mumbai city). Such unplanned development causes solid waste management and water supply to fall inadequate. Urban sprawl gives rise to low density development and car dependent communities, consequently leading to increased urban flooding, low energy efficiency, longer travel time and destruction of croplands, forests and open spaces for development.
In a world where over half of the human population calls a city their home, the need to restructure and revolutionize the way we design our urban environments has never been greater. Currently, the notion that these vast metropolises of metal, concrete, and sludge could one day be fully realized pillars of sustainability is certainly laughable. However, when these same cities are constantly growing and multiplying across the globe, all the while using a greater and greater chunk of our planet’s energy, this impossible task becomes a necessary focus. To strive towards the closed, continuous loop of “true” sustainability could greatly alter the image of the modern city. Any improvement over the current state of urban affairs could carry weight, and even if that goal is not entirely fulfilled, the gained benefits would be immense.
Moore said that we can understand sustainability as “a storyline, a narrative thread that people use to understand how the past, present, and future can be connected in different ways” (Moore 2007). Since the understanding of sustainability has been changing, we can neither predict what will happen in the future nor establish a set of rules for the future generation to follow. As Norton argued, sustainable activities can be conducted in the present “without negatively impacting the range of important choices that should be left open to the next generation” (Norton 2005:432). Therefore, it’s crucial to apprehend the nature of sustainable cities in order to set up the framework while never kill
There are various systems in handling population rates and its various issues that connect with threatening our environment. The population and environment debate will forever be a back and forth problem because there is possibly no way to completely stop carbon emissions but ease its production. To help the environment, we must incorporate all potential solutions in governing population such as family planning and governmental involvement and practice renewable resources and stop on using nonrenewable resources, as well as ways to tackle overconsumption to support our corrupting environment.
The notion of sustainable city has mounted a paramount place in the contemporary urban planning. In the world Conservation strategies in1980, the concept of sustainable development was firstly introduced.
Currently, the world population shows no signs of slowing and with that the demand for resources is growing as well. As these two components strain society, the urgency and need for sustainability becomes more and more important. In the near future, environmentalists hope that humans will collectively take responsibility for the harm human activities have inflicted on Earth so that the aspects of sustainability- the principles, major components, and topics of concern come to the forefront of discussion for global action before it is too late.
Social ecology is the conceptual principles for knowing the outcomes and relations of the many diverse individual and environmental factors. Social ecology is defined as the study of people within an environment, which have influence on one another. It’s believed to be the earth’s societies reflection upon itself, exploring, discovering, and considering its future (Gutkind, 1974). Factors of social ecology may include the infirmities of age, an increase of population, natural disasters, technology and the growth of society. Within social ecology it is important to notice which people are unable to see the environmental crisis. This movement is placing all the responsibility for destroying the earth on humans as they are overpopulating the planet. There is no possible way of convincing all humans to change their way of life (Bookchin, 1995). However, rather have humans distinguish and eliminate previous forms of control and destruction (Bookchin, 1995). The main standard of social ecology is the fact that problems occur from inherent social issues (Dogan, Rokkan, 1974). These problems cannot be understood without acknowledging the social issues. The development, of certain technologies, social characteristics, cities and science all has caused a vast majority of problems to the earth, which leads back to humans.
The environment around us gives us the habitat to live, is a condition for our existence and development so that protecting environment which is one of today’s most serious issues means protecting our lives. But almost every day we hear a new problem badly affecting the environment. The list of the new difficulties seems to be endless. We are all aware of these concerns and can admit that we caused them. Now, environmental protection is not the work of a single individual as it is the responsibility of the whole community, of every single person exists on this planet. The measures range from each citizen to the government.