My Idea of Well-Being - Essay Example

My Idea of Well-Being The world consists of different people and places with each being unique in its own way. In line with this, the uniqueness of each aspect in life contributes to different viewpoints about the world and a variety of other subjects. This uniqueness is diversity, and it characterizes every aspect of humanity. Above all, the uniqueness of each person, which is diversity, determines the person’s view of what constitutes good living. To some people, living each day under a roof and obtaining their daily bread is enough measure of good living. To others, the measure of good living may constitute a satisfaction of the basic human wants and achieving wealth. However, all these people aspire to live different lives that were fulfilling with these people achieving their goals in life. To me, my wellbeing is not the idea of just being happy. I consider wellbeing to be a state of achieving the physical, mental, and emotional health factors that would not be possible without living in an environment that was clean and organized. In view of this, this expose elucidates on my idea of wellbeing while focusing on my experiences with the environments that I have lived while providing a criteria that I use to determine success. Moreover, the expose will elucidate on the skills that I will use to make my future and that of my classmates worth living and the criteria for determining our success. To begin with, I must point out that I have been fortunate enough to experience living in two countries whose differences exist in epic proportions. In this case, the differences between these two nations exist with regard to culture, language, and architecture that defines the architectural and environmenal designs of the available infrastructure. In line with this, I was born and brought up in the city of Shanghai, in China. The city is considered as one of the livable cities in China due to its rapid developing economy. However, the city is not a paradigm that should be followed when determining the planning process of a city while I was growing up. In this case, the city used to be a congestion of motorcycles, bicycles, and vehicles with journeys taking longer than expected when a person traveled using some routes. In effect, this contributed heavily to noise and air pollution with a thick cloud cover resulting from pollution and untidy air from the motorcycles, vehicles, and developments that aimed at constructing skyscrapers to rival other cities. In addition, the manufacturing plants in the city contributed to the noise and air pollution since there were no existing rules that governed their operations and especially the way the plants should dispose their waste (Browne). In effect, these factors did not make Shanghai a good living environmental design since these factors suggest a city whose urban design has failed. Toronto is a complete contrast of the city of Shanghai. I had the pleasure of living in the city and I must point out that there are a number of distinct differences between these two cities. First, Toronto does not have congestion problems resulting from motorcycles, vehicles, and bicycles similar to the ones experienced in China. In this regard, the city’s urban planning and design does not allow such unfavorable conditions since the transport system is synchronized to ensure that the problem of congestion does not arise. In addition, the city’s plan and rules regulate the operations of the manufacturing industry in the city, which prevents issues related to noise and air pollution. Based on my experiences while growing up and as an international student, Toronto is the city that meets my idea of wellbeing since its planning constitutes what can qualify to be a good living environmental design. Livable City outlines a number of aspects that can define a livable neighborhood. In line with this, the first quality regardless compatibility in the way that a city conserved its land and the density sufficiency in supporting transit needs. Using this measure, my experience while growing up in Shanghai did not indicate a city that conserved land since any available land was undergoing some developments. In addition, the city could not meet its transit needs since congestion was the order of the day with vehicles, motorcycles, and bicycles congesting the city. In contrast, Canada is a city that has conserved land and meets the transit needs of its citizens through an effective transport system, which is indicative of a good environmental design. Another indicative measure for a livable city is a healthy and clean environment that was supportive of the residents’ physical and mental health, which implies a clean and safe city that promoted social inclusion and socialization amongst its residents (Livable City). Shanghai’s environment was not clean since there were dark clouds, which indicated untidy air, and noise emanating from the traffic congestion and manufacturing plants. In effect, the environment in Shanghai did not promote physical health among the residents. On the other hand, it is difficult to experience air or noise pollution in Toronto since manufacturing plants followed the regulations that governed their operations. In effect, Toronto defines my idea of wellbeing since the environment supports the physical and emotional health of the residents. In addition, the urban planning in Toronto designed residential estates with a thought of enhancing socialization, cohesion, and interaction between residents. In this case, I have seen each residential place that I have visited consist of socializing places that were a result of good environmental living designs. These socializing places are available in residential places irrespective of the residents’ levels of income. In contrast, Shanghai does not have such places for all residential neighborhoods with these facilities only available in a number of residential places where the residents’ incomes were high. The most important aspect that will guide my idea of wellbeing regards the idea of a green environment that is present in a neighborhood. In line with this, my idea of a prosperous city should constitute neighborhoods that integrated nature in their design. Livable City identifies such designs as those that integrated trees and plants along the designs of street while greenways, parks, plazas, and playgrounds characterized neighborhoods. In addition, successful environmental designs incorporated green roofs, compact gardens, terraces, and courtyards into their designs. In effect, the incorporation of these designs in buildings, neighborhoods, and streets underlined my idea of wellbeing and successful environmental designs. Comparing my experiences, Toronto meets the criteria of incorporating ecology into the city’s environmental designs. In contrast, it is challenging to identify buildings and streets that incorporated the use of ecology in Shanghai. To explain the contrasting features between Shanghai and Toronto further, it is important to explain the ideals behind different ideas that necessitate the development of environmental designs. In this case, the urban development design in Toronto is based on reality, which makes it a success and meets my definition of wellbeing. On the other hand, Shanghai’s development plan might not be existing, and if it existed, then it is based on goals that were not attainable. An obvious example is the Dongtan eco-city project that would have given way to the first eco-city in the world. In line with this, this project meant to have an island that was grassy, in the crowded city of Shanghai, become a paradigm for future eco-cities. Larson noted the island would have undergone a complete transformation from marshy backwater into a sparkling community of 50,000 people that had energy-efficient housing. In this case, the project would have witnessed the recycling of waste into fuel with the waterfronts seamed with lustrous micro-windfalls (Larson). However, the project failed to kick-off, which underlines the utopian perspective in building designs that were founded in the thoughts of the ideal, rather than reality (Rowe & Koetter, 15). In effect, this explains the reasons regarding the failure of the Dongtan eco-city to kick-start since the designers failed to consider the diminutive aspects that necessitated the success of this ambitious project. Milani identified the importance of opposing exploitation and injustice in the implementation of alternatives in the social and ecological perspectives, which targeted the development of human beings living conditions and the environmental regeneration. In line with this, failure to follow this perspective contributed to the failure of the Dongtan eco-city project. In this regard, Larson noted the projects failure was primarily due to the failure of the designers to understand the nature of the culture, politics, and economics of the Chinese people. In this case, the designers failed to follow Milan’s approach of focusing on all aspects that are crucial in developing environmental alternatives that were essential for human survival. In addition, the project failed to attain any success due to the failure of the designers to incorporate the locals in the project by ensuring seeking their ideas, opinions, and ensuring that there was effective publicizing of the project. Nonetheless, the coordinators and developers failed to incorporate the public and made the project an elitist project, which contributed to its failure (Larson). My idea of wellbeing will form a basis that will ensure that I succeeded in the future. In this case, I want to ensure that my work dealt in promoting successful environmental designs amongst cities, more so in my native China. Hence, the skills I have gained on the components of a livable city will be essential in ensuring that I succeeded in every activity that I engaged in towards developing the cities. In line with this, I want future, and current, residents of Shanghai to enjoy a pollution free environment that will be a result of my efforts based on the skills that I have gained. This way, I will be able to carry out a comparison of the city of Shanghai that I grew in, and the city of Shanghai that I will have contributed in its development and redesigning. Once I realize that the new city incorporated ecological factors like trees and vegetation lining up the streets, gardens and parks along avenues, and terraces in buildings that will be the moment I will have achieved success. On the other hand, it is important to ensure the development of eco-cities was right on track. In line with this, my fellow students and I have learned various skills that require the construction of such cities. Using the skills learnt, I would lobby my fellow students to encourage them to ensure that each one pioneered an eco-city in their country of origin. While doing this, I realize that we cannot achieve this fete individually. Therefore, we will map out a way that will ensure that we incorporated the opinion and ideas of stakeholders to ensure that our pet projects of constructing an eco-city in our countries of origin were successful. The criteria to measure the success of these eco-city projects will be through defining the hindrances that we will face in our endeavor. Conversely, it will be important for my fellow-students, and I to lobby the local communities and the government before developing a design for these eco-cities. In this regard, we will use the skills that we have learnt in class to suggest approaches to improve the environment with the suggestion that eco-cities are the main approach that can contribute to environmental preservation and conservation. In effect, the way that governments and the public respond to our lobbying will be an essential criterion that will measure our success in developing good environmental designs. Based on the foregoing, it is evident that our experiences play a significant role in defining good living environmental designs. In this regard, growing up in the challenging Shanghai environment that was characterized by congestion, air pollution, and noise pollution affected my viewpoint of a good living environmental design. In this case, the plan and design of the city of Shanghai did not promote the necessary aspects that are crucial to ensuring that the city was livable. Conversely, the design in Toronto promoted a livable city characterized by compactness, promotion of health, incorporation of the environment in design, and enhanced sustainability, which are an emphasis of my idea of wellbeing. On the other hand, good living environmental designs incorporated all stakeholders in their development to rule out any events of failure. In effect, this was one criterion that we will use to measure our success in the future when we develop environmental designs based on the skills we will have learnt with my fellow students. Works Cited Larson, Christina. China’s Grand Plans for Eco-Cities Now Lie Abandoned. 6 Apr. 2009. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. . Livable City. Livable Neighborhoods. N.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. . Milani, Brian. Designing the Green Economy: The Postindustrial Alternative to Corporate Globalization. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers: Lanham, 2000. Print. Rowe, Colin, and Fred Koetter. Collage City. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1984. Print. Read More