Sustainable Cities - Research Paper Example

?Sustainable Cities The world has many cities wherein people live and do businesses. Some of the cities are as old as history while others continue to come up. The existence of a city is very important for the economic development of a country. Most cities in the world acts as centers for commerce, ideas, technology, finance, production, culture and social developed. As a result, most people in the present century prefer to live in cities as opposed to rural areas. This is attributable to the fact that cities provide opportunities, such as jobs and better social amenities than those available in rural areas. Currently, over half of the world’s population lives in urban centers. This accounts for about 3.5 billion people (Braun 5). The number is likely to increase to over 60% by the year 2030 due to increased migration of people from rural to urban centers. Nonetheless, many cities face a huge challenge in trying to maintain themselves in a manner that allows for the creation of jobs for the increasing city population and maintaining it prosperity. Such attempts mainly result in straining land and available resource, resulting in challenges such as congestion, shortage of housing, declining infrastructure, development of slums, and luck of other basic amenities, such as clean water, and sanitation (Steffen 11). Other challenges facing most cities include poverty, pollution, and poor sewerage system. In order to overcome these challenges, cities are increasingly adopting the concept of sustainable city or eco-city. The concept of eco-city first came up in 1987 when Richard Register first coined the concept (Braun 5). Since then, many city planners and management have been using the concept to come up with cities that consider the environmental impacts brought about by the rising population. The concept eco-cities also aim to ensure that the city dwellers understand the need to conserve the environment by minimizing inputs of energy, food, water, pollution, and waste output. Shmelev and Shmeleva noted that Richard Register was the first person to formulate the concept of sustainable cities and has since then been adopted by many city designers (16). The concept of sustainable city has mainly been evident in Germany, where most cities have taken the initiative to ensure sustainability. For example, Freiburg City in Germany acts as a good example of a shinning sustainability. This was made possible through the implementation of the sustainable city initiative in Vauban district. The initiative has resulted in the development of eco housing structures, socially conscious neighborhoods and car-free streets. Currently, energy-saving buildings are the culture in Freiburg. In fact, according to the German law, all houses built must waste more than 75KWh/M2 a year (Purvis 9). To achieve the energy efficiency, houses built in the city of Freiburg have solar panels used as the main source of energy. This has helped reduce the amount of greenhouse emissions in the city and its surrounding. A similar eco-city initiative has been created in Rieselfeld district of Freiburg City. Like in Vauban district, the sustainable city initiative by ensuring that all houses are fitted with alternative sources of energy (Purvis 9). The district is also committed to improving the sewerage disposal, drainage system, as well as reducing the level of pollution. Like, Germany’s city of Freiburg, many other cities in the world are also in the process of implementing initiatives aimed at ensuring that the cities become as sustainable as Freiburg City. The aim of this discourse is to examine the cities in the world that are moving towards becoming an eco-city just as Germany’s Freiburg City. To begin with, climate change is one of the major environmental problems facing the world today. Scientists have noted that the world temperatures have been increasing at an alarming rate over the past few decades. At the same time, the sea levels have also continued to rise. Scientists attribute these climatic changes the global warming effect, which results from the excessive release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Most of the greenhouse gases come from industries built in cities. Braw noted that the global warming affect posses a huge threat to cities in the world (3). As a result, the city planners of the Danish Capita, Copenhagen are in the process of implementing the sustainable city concept in their plans to ensure the city’s resilience and success. Braw reveals that the planners of Copenhagen city have put in place a raft of initiatives that aims to cushion the city from the effects of global warming for several generations to come. The planners of Copenhagen city anticipate that the Danish capital will experience increased rainfall in the coming years due to the effects of climate change (Braw 3). This will result in increased flooding that might destroy property or result in the loss of lives. Therefore, to prepare the city for such a situation, the city planners have developed a plan that addresses how to collect rainwater in the city. In this regard, the planners are in the process of building convex streets that will collect all the rainwater that might result from super storm in the future. Like many other cities in the world, Copenhagen is also likely to experience excess heat. As such, the city planners have put a raft of measures to ensure sustainability. For instance, the city planners are in the process of establishing pocket parks that will absorb excess heat from the sun and turned into reservoirs. Copenhagen city is a city located next to the sea. This puts the city, like many others located next to the sea at danger of rising sea level and super storms that are likely to hit the coastal areas in the coming years due to climate change. Stuart Gaffin, a research professor at Colombia University advises city managements to put in place green infrastructure to protect cities located near seas from super storms and rising sea levels (Braw 3). The planners of Copenhagen city have adopted the green infrastructure, which include putting in place green roofs, and green sheets that will capture water from super storms. The city planners are also in the process of lowering the level of the nearby lake to free the space around the shore. The city planners also intend to turn the freed space into a park with running paths and playgrounds. In this regard, in the event of a super storm, the park will act as a water reservoir. The convex streets will also help capture water from flooding and storms. In addition, intends to create streets with plenty of trees to slowdown the anticipated storms in the coming years. New York City is also among the cities that are in the process of adopting a sustainable city initiative. Researchers have predicted that the world population is likely to increase by 2.3 billion people in the next four decades. New York City is among the cities that experiences rapid increase in population. This is attributable to the fact that it acts as the commercial and financial center for the United States. In fact, the New York authorities expect the city’s population to increase by at least one million residents by the year 2030 (Richard 2). Therefore, to accommodate the rising population, New York did launch PlaNYC initiative in 2007 to ensure that the city is capable of catering for the increasing population for prosperity and development. So far, New York City authority has built at least 64,000 units of housing some of which are reserved for new residents expected in the city in the coming years. (Richard 2).This will help reduce overcrowding and lack of affordable housing in the city, thereby ensuring sustainable development. Like Copenhagen city planners, the New York City planners also understand the problem posed by global warming effect. Therefore, to minimize pollution in New York City, the city authorities have enacted ambitious energy efficiency laws for all the buildings in the city. The new energy law aims to reduce the level of greenhouse emissions by at least 13% below the level recorded in 2005. (Richard 2). In fact, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City recently presented a climate change adaptation program of a record $19.5 billion to ensure that the city adapts well to the environmental change for sustainability and development. Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya has also formulated a raft of programs aimed at ensuring that the city becomes as sustainable as possible. Nairobi is currently the largest city in East and central Africa (Otieno 6). At the same time, the city acts the central gateway for central and eastern Africa. In addition, the Nairobi hosts several international organizations. However, like many other cities in the world, Nairobi is experiencing high population growth which has resulted in lack of enough housing units, increase in slum dwelling, poor sewerage system, pollution and lack of clean water, just to name but a few. Therefore, to attain its vision 2030, the Kenyan government has created a new topographical map for its metropolitan region for development. So far, over 4,000 trees have been planted along River Nairobi to beautify and reduce pollution of the environment (Otieno 6). The Nairobi city Council have also blocked about 109 illegal discharge points and closed 20 illegal dumpsites in the city. The government of Kenya is also in the process of upgrading all the slums in the city, including Kibera slums, which is the largest in the world. The Kenyan government is replacing the slums with modern housing units to improve the living standards of the residents of Nairobi. The latest census report indicated that Nairobi has a population in the excess of 4 million residents (Otieno 6). This has resulted in the development of many slums in the city. As result, the Kenyan government found it prudent to upgrade these slums by constructing modern housing units. The government is also constructing modern highways and bi-passes to reduce traffic congestion in the city. These programs are geared towards the realization of the vision 2030 by ensuring that Nairobi becomes a sustainable metropolitan. Bangladesh is also one of the countries that have demonstrated commitment to creating a sustainable city through effective solid waste management in its capital Dhaka. Report indicates that the Bangladesh capital had had poor waste management system in the past. However, the situation is about to change in the next few years due to the government’s sustainable approach to dealing with the solid waste in the municipality. Yi and Li observed that more than three-quarters of Dhaka’s waste is organic (36). As such, the Bangladesh government built a waste recycling plant in the city that recycles all the organic waste products. This initiative has not only reduced poor waste disposal that characterized the city in the past, but has also employed more than 800 workers. Research shows that the city currently produces about 50,000 metric tons of compost, which have effectively minimized the burden landfills in the city. In addition, the initiative has helped reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the city by about 89,000 tons every year (Yi and Li 41). In fact, Dhaka has emerged as one of the most sustainable cities in Asia since it took such an initiative. Bilbao is one of the Spanish cities that once acted as home for heavy industries. However, most of these industries faced many challenges that resulted in their closure. The closure of the industries left many residents who relied on the industries jobless. However, Bilbao has chosen to redevelop by pursuing a different direction with its 30-year plan that began in 1991. In this regard, the Bilbao authority has invested about €650 million in the cleaning and regeneration of industrial field and Brownfield in the city (Cesarotti 8). One such plan includes the establishment of a branch of the Guggenheim Museum that currently acts as Europe’s new cultural center. In addition, the Bilbao authority has also planted many trees along the streets to beautify the city, as well as reduce erosion. In conclusion, cities play a crucial role for the development of a country. However, most cities face a huge challenge in trying to maintain themselves in a manner that allows for the creation of jobs for the increasing city population and maintaining it prosperity. Such attempts result in straining land and available resource, resulting in congestion, shortage of housing, declining infrastructure, development of slums, and luck of clean water, increased poverty and pollution. To minimize these problems, most cities are increasingly adopting a sustainable city initiative that aims to ensure a safe and environment friendly city to live and do business. Among the cities that have adopted initiatives geared towards a sustainable city, include Freiburg in Germany, Copenhagen in Denmark, New York City, in the U.S., Nairobi in Kenya, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Bilbao in Spain, just to name but a few. The sustainable energy initiatives of these cities have certainly improved the environment and the living standards of the residents. Works Cited Braun, David. Sustainable Cities “Can Improve Lives and Build a Healthier Planet” National Geographic, June 22, 2012: 5. Print. Braw, Elisabeth. Tackling Climate Change: Copenhagen's Sustainable City Design. The Guardian, 8 October 2013, p. 3. Print. Cesarotti, Brian. Bilbao – Model of Sustainable Urban Development. Wordpress, August 15, 2008: 8. Print. Otieno, Rawlings. Nairobi in Sh28b Plan to Convert Waste to Energy. The Standard, 27 Sep 2013: 6. Print. Purvis, Andrew. Is This The Greenest City In The World? The Guardian, March 23, 2008: 9. Print. Richard, Michael G. New York City: Sustainable City? Treehugger, October 19, 2006: 2. Print. Shmelev, Stanislav E., and Irina A. Shmeleva. Sustainable Cities: Problems of Integrated Interdisciplinary Research. International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2009, 12(1), 4 – 23. Steffen, Lehmann. The Principles of Green Urbanism. Transforming the City for Sustainability, London: Earthscan Publisher, 2010. Print. Warren Karlenzig. How Green is Your City? The Sustain Lane US City Rankings. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2007. Print. Yi, Rita, and Man Li. Building Our Sustainable Cities. London: Common Ground Publishing, 2011. Print. Read More