Sustainable Urbanism at Home and Abroad - Essay Example

Case Studies in Sustainable Urbanism at Home and Abroad Sustainability means there is a possibility of maintenance over time. A sustainable city refers to a city whose design is based on the environmental effects and whose inhabitants are fellows who are determined to reduce the needed energy inputs, food and water and through away outputs of water pollution, air pollution, heat, methane and carbon (IV) oxide. Sustainable urbanism has been defined as a transit-served and walkable urbanism that is incorporated into high-performance infrastructure. Density plus human access to green space are deemed as the core values associated with sustainable urbanism. These values concentrates on the form based bias that is related to the contemporary architectural theories or practices that are crucial in understanding sustainability. There is a commonplace assertion that higher density cities or compact cities have a higher level of sustainability in comparison with the fewer compact counterparts. Compact cities are arguably better avenues for more sustainable means of transport. Often, the population densities will be sufficiently high to aid public transport and make this means of transport easy to run. Further, because of mixed use and high population density that is typical of compact cities, people tend to reside in places that are proximate to their work sites and leisure activities thus leading to a reduction in the general demand for travelling needs. Second, compact cities are deemed as sustainable land use. Pieces of land within the countryside are left reserved whilst urban lands are recycled for use in development-based projects. Third, social cohesion, cultural development, and compactness are common places in green cities. Finally, a compact city would be treated as an economically viable city because provision of infrastructure like street lights and roads is possible in a cost effective per capita. A number of sustainable urbanism experts report that dispersed and low-density cities have remained unsustainable due to their heavy reliance on the automobile utilities. In a broader sense, there are evidences of substantial negative correlation between the total of energy consumed within the city and the population inside it (Farr 123). A major issue in attaining sustainability is to minimize reliance on the fossil fuels. Cities could start kicking out liquid hydrocarbons by trying to invest in more effective transit and transport modes along with promotion of the use of bicycle and encouraging people to walk. Mixed use, coupled with urban planning for density, can help in getting individuals out of cars, and ensure that they spend minimal time commuting and a larger portion of their time shopping, walking or chatting with acquaintances and friends. New sustainable urban development and redevelopment projects need to issue different commercial, educational, institutional uses alongside housing prices, sizes and styles. The provision of private streets, trails, sidewalks linked to transit comes to a halt and an inter-connected street network inside these mixed use developments offers a set of mobility alternatives while aiding in the reduction of pollution through minimized vehicle trips. The chance to explore nature along with other people is a reflection of the strongest perspectives that the urban green spaces accessible to the public can contribute towards a sustainable city. Other than providing opportunities for participation in leisure and sporting activities and communing with wildlife and nature, and to heighten the properties of values and investments, green spaces feature a significant effect on the social sustainability associated with different cities. This notwithstanding, the social aspect of the green spaces is to a great extent overlooked more so in compact urban centers. Research studies aimed at addressing the social perspectives of the green spaces have attached more weight to the impact of urban green spaces on inclusion and interaction issues within the social circles alongside other issues like community development and cultural identity. In essence, seeing cities attain sustainable urbanism is not just centered on enhancing the abiotic and biotic aspects of the environment; it should be coupled with continuous efforts to improve the social cycle too. The environmental impacts of transit processes have to some extent impeded the attainment of sustainable urbanism across cities. The situation is however not desirable, and it is for this reason that people with sound knowledge on environmental impact assessment constantly make suggestions of the way to improve the walking or cycling environment inside cities. To keep up with the perspective of social responsibility that bears a close association with the sustainable cities, implementation of sustainable transit approaches should encompass transportation that is publicly accessible to all members of the community regardless of the society that they originate from. Again, based on the idea that fuel and car costs are in numerous cases too expensive to be afforded by the little income earners, it makes sense for the city developers to plan and adopt solutions that are centered on efficient approaches that are accessible to the entire public. Sustainability is an upcoming concept that cuts across several disciplines and under a constant growth. Whilst the global population urbanizes, city planners and designers get an opportunity to plan and design socially just, healthy, resource efficient and resilient cities plus metropolitan regions. On the same note, they can have a chance to use a host of technical, design and analytical utilities to come up with creative solutions. In most cases, an in-depth understanding of the sustainability challenges befalling the urban regions is instrumental in coming up with proper designs and plans. Whereas planners and designers have a good opportunity to put their skills on environmental consciousness into practice, they will always have to deal with challenges such as disparity socio-economic classes and spatial development along with the contemporary concerns like climate change and poverty reduction. Urban development needs to be guided using a sustainable planning plus management vision that encourages interconnected green space, mixed use development compact population as well as mixed-use development. Planners and designers ought to use varied private and public partnerships in creating communities that are both sustainable and livable, and on the front-end to safeguard all environmental, cultural and historic resources. Further, policy makers, developers, and regulators need to encourage sustainable site planning plus construction techniques that are capable of minimizing pollution while creating a balance between natural and built systems. Urban systems are deemed as an ever-evolving product of flow of the ecological, infrastructural, economic and social systems that grow and develop near the urban areas. Resource intensiveness is expected of such a manner of settlement thus leading to heightened greenhouse gas emissions which will finally breed climatic changes. Some of the effects of climatic changes include issues like severe and more frequent weather events like cyclones. These effects render nearly every urban system vulnerable to the impacts of climatic changes. Besides, the effects are likely to affect a vast number of urban functions that the development developers could be planning to put in place. It then follows that the efforts of city planners and designers should be focused on mitigating and gaining control of the consequences of these environmental impacts. In view of the growing concerns towards power use, urban planners might need to follow the national Action Plan for Energy Efficiency in their effort to implement an assertive and sustainable nation-wide commitment towards energy efficiency using the integrated efforts of gas, utility regulators, electric tools as well as other partner organizations. Attaining such a level of commitment would give the meaning that the nation in question is in a position to make best use of greater opportunities within schools, buildings and personal residential homes to minimize the use of energy and saving billions that are constantly spent in meeting client energy bills while minimizing the need for newer power supplies. Works Cited Farr, Douglas. Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Read More