Contemporary Urban Environments - Sustainable Urban Development Flashcards
What are some environmental impacts of cities?
- At a local sale by increasing air pollution, water pollution, flood risk and by generating large amounts of waste
- Loss of open space
- At a global scale, cities increase demand for resources such as food, water and energy.
- Cities are responsible for 60% of greenhouse gas emissions
What factors influence a city’s ecological footprint?
Wealth - consumption and waste production is higher in cities in developed countries
Size of the city - compact cities are easier to travel around by foot or bike, so they produce less pollution
Quality of public transport - efficient public transport systems decrease car use, and therefore reduce pollution
What are the four dimensions to sustainability?
1) Natural
2) Physical
3) Social
4) Economic
What is natural sustainability?
- About how the environment, resources and waste are managed
- Cities with a high level of natural sustainable rely on renewable energy sources, they produce relatively little waste and reuse or recycle the waste they produce.
- Cities where people walk, cycle and use public transport a lot produce less pollution, so they are more sustainable
What is physical sustainability?
- About how well a city is able to support the people living there
- To be sustainable, a city must provide enough resources to support the population and let them be productive
- Features of physically sustainable cities include plentiful high quality housing and secure supplies of nutritious food, safe water and energy for all residents
What is social sustainability?
- About how people live together, their quality of life, and the availability of basic services
- Cities offer good living conditions for all residents, with access to basic services
- Socially sustainable cities are peaceful, tolerant, respect human rights and are politically stable
What is economic sustainability?
- About maintaining economic growth without causing long term negative effects
- Cities with high levels of economic sustainability are wealthy, have low levels of inequality and little debt. They are home to profitable, ethical businesses that offer plenty of well paid jobs
What is liveability?
This is a measure of how good living conditions in an area are.
What does liveability depend on?
- Job opportunities
- Crime rates
- Open space
- Access to education
What are some challenges of increasing urban sustainability?
- It requires significant investment, which many cities cannot afford
- Many cities are growing, so public services need to expand rapidly to meet the needs of a larger population
- Some people are unwilling to change their habits
- Some cities don’t have appropriate infrastructure
What are some strategies for increasing urban sustainability?
- Reducing the number of cars on the road
- Increasing the amount of green space
- Improving urban waste disposal
- Increasing renewable energy use
- Reducing water use
- Making buildings more energy efficient
