sustainable cities essay

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Sustainable development goal 11: sustainable cities and communities.

Sustainable Development Goal 11, one of 17 goals that make up the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, provides targets and guidance for urban planning to support cities with growing populations.

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The Tower Bridge

The tower bridge is a symbol of the city to many locals and foreigners alike. The tower bridge was built in 1886 and crosses over the River Thames.

Photograph by Robert Bye

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 is about making “cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.” It is one of the 17 SDGs in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development .

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , a plan to promote peace and sustainable growth worldwide. One of the goals within the plan is SDG 11, which addresses urban development. The goal says cities should ensure access to safe and affordable housing, public transportation, and public green spaces. It states that cities should be resilient to natural disasters and protect those in vulnerable situations while also minimizing economic loss.

One sustainability target that is often overlooked is social sustainability and civic engagement . This includes actions individuals can take, like voting for measures that increase sustainability in their own city or for politicians who support these measures. People can also attend their city’s public forums to give feedback on sustainability initiatives. Taken as a whole, SDG 11 is a comprehensive and complex goal: creating sustainable cities that can withstand both climate change and unprecedented growth.

The Agenda for Sustainable Development , and the goals contained within it, are important because nations are facing new challenges as their cities grow in size and in population. The 2019 progress review of SDG 11 stated: “Globally, urban areas are expanding at a faster rate than their populations. Between 2000 and 2014, areas occupied by cities grew 1.28 times faster than their populations.” This means that cities are sprawling and becoming less dense. This leaves some urban residents without access to necessary infrastructure , like public transportation.

Environmental concerns are heightened in areas of urban growth as well. Air quality is worse in urban areas, and cities account for 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions . Cities are also extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change , as a high number of urban areas lie along coastlines, which are prone to climate change –related natural disasters.

Many cities have already implemented sustainability efforts to meet SDG 11. Cities such as London, England, and New York City, New York, have passed legislation for congestion pricing to reduce air pollution. Congestion pricing is used to discourage people from driving by charging drivers higher tolls if they travel during rush hour or in certain high-traffic areas. Drivers of electric cars are sometimes allowed to travel for free in order to encourage environmentally conscious travel. Individuals can participate in this effort by choosing an electric car as their next vehicle or opting to walk or bike more frequently.

Though SDG 11 is primarily focused on government action, the initiatives need community buy-in from individual citizens as well as community leaders. For example, individuals can take actions such as fixing up their local parks, creating rooftop gardens, or participating in community composting programs to improve the quality of greenspaces and create additional ones in new spots. People can make small steps in their own neighborhoods to support sustainable cities on a world-wide level.

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Essay on Sustainable Cities And Communities

Students are often asked to write an essay on Sustainable Cities And Communities in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Sustainable Cities And Communities

What are sustainable cities.

Cities that can meet their needs without harming the environment are called sustainable cities. They use less energy, water and resources. They also produce less waste and pollution. Sustainable cities are good for people and the planet.

Why are Sustainable Cities Important?

Cities are home to most of the world’s population. They are also responsible for a large share of the world’s environmental problems. Sustainable cities can help to reduce these problems and make the world a better place to live.

How Can We Create Sustainable Cities?

There are many things we can do to create sustainable cities. We can use renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. We can also reduce our water consumption and waste production. We can make our cities more walkable and bikeable, and we can encourage people to use public transportation.

Benefits of Sustainable Cities

Sustainable cities have many benefits. They are healthier and more livable. They are also more resilient to climate change. Sustainable cities are good for business and the economy. They attract businesses and workers, and they create jobs.

Sustainable cities are the future. They are the only way to ensure that we can meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

250 Words Essay on Sustainable Cities And Communities

What are sustainable cities and communities.

Sustainable cities and communities are places where people can live happily without harming the planet. These cities make sure everyone has a nice place to live, clean air to breathe, and enough parks and green spaces to enjoy. They also use energy from the sun, wind, or water, which is better for the earth than burning coal or oil.

Why Are They Important?

Our planet is facing big problems like pollution and climate change. By creating sustainable cities, we can help solve these issues. These cities produce less trash and pollution, which means cleaner air and water for us and animals. They also help save energy and resources, making sure there’s enough for everyone now and in the future.

How Do They Work?

In sustainable cities, buildings use less energy because they are designed to get as much light and warmth from the sun as possible. Public transport is easy to use, cheap, and doesn’t pollute the air. People also have safe paths to walk or bike, making it easy to choose not to use a car. Recycling is a big part of life, with everyone helping to reuse and reduce waste.

Everyone Plays a Part

Creating sustainable cities isn’t just a job for mayors or government leaders. Everyone, including you and me, can help by saving energy, recycling, and choosing to walk or bike instead of asking for a ride in a car. When we all work together, we can make our cities better places to live, not just for us, but for all living things on our planet.

500 Words Essay on Sustainable Cities And Communities

Sustainable cities: a greener future.

Sustainable cities are designed to minimize their negative impact on the environment and ensure a high quality of life for their residents. They aim to balance economic development, social equity, and environmental protection.

Key Elements of Sustainable Cities

1. Compact Urban Design: Sustainable cities prioritize compact urban design, where buildings, businesses, and public spaces are closely integrated. This reduces the need for long commutes and promotes walkability, cycling, and public transportation.

2. Green Spaces: Sustainable cities incorporate green spaces like parks, gardens, and green roofs into their urban design. These spaces provide recreational opportunities, improve air quality, and support biodiversity.

3. Energy Efficiency: Sustainable cities aim to reduce energy consumption by promoting energy-efficient buildings, appliances, and transportation systems. This helps combat climate change and lowers energy costs.

4. Renewable Energy: Sustainable cities prioritize the use of renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydropower to meet their energy needs. This reduces dependence on fossil fuels and promotes clean energy.

5. Waste Management: Sustainable cities implement comprehensive waste management systems that minimize waste generation and promote recycling, composting, and waste-to-energy technologies. This helps reduce pollution and conserve resources.

6. Sustainable Transportation: Sustainable cities promote sustainable transportation options like public transportation, cycling, and walking. This reduces air pollution, traffic congestion, and improves public health.

7. Water Conservation: Sustainable cities implement water conservation measures like rainwater harvesting, efficient irrigation systems, and water-saving appliances. This helps protect water resources and reduce water consumption.

8. Community Engagement: Sustainable cities prioritize community engagement and participation in decision-making. This ensures that the city’s development aligns with the needs and aspirations of its residents.

1. Improved Public Health: Sustainable cities promote active lifestyles, clean air, and access to green spaces, which contribute to improved public health and well-being.

2. Reduced Environmental Impact: Sustainable cities minimize their environmental impact by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving resources, and protecting biodiversity.

3. Economic Prosperity: Sustainable cities attract businesses and investment due to their high quality of life, skilled workforce, and innovative solutions.

4. Resilience: Sustainable cities are better prepared to face challenges like climate change, natural disasters, and economic downturns due to their focus on long-term planning and resilience.

Sustainable cities are vital for creating a more livable, equitable, and sustainable future for all. By embracing sustainable practices and policies, cities can reduce their environmental impact, improve the quality of life for their residents, and contribute to a healthier planet.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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Past issues, information, privacy policy, terms & conditions, jennifer gabrys, published on, feb 11, 2014, urban and urbanization, smart cities as sustainable cities: a visual essay.

A frequently referenced forerunner of the smart city is this proposal by the British architectural collective, Archigram, for a “Plug-In City,” which supplanted fixed buildings with a moveable network of spaces and interchangeable “programs” for urban inhabitations. 

February 11, 2014

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Multiple information and digital cities emerged throughout the dot-com era. This example of the Cité Multimédia in Montreal documents the enfolding of imaginings of urban space with the capacities of computational rendering, which further inform actual development schemes. 

The diagrammatic quality of informational cities designs can be found in newer proposals for smart cities, including this sensor world by Libelium , an “internet of things provider” based in Spain. In this proposal, numerous urban services and operations, from lighting to shopping, become augmented and newly articulated through wireless sensor networks. 

The technology that is promoted as reconfiguring urban landscapes is computational sensors, relatively miniature devices connected to computational infrastructures of multiple different scales and generating an expanded array of command-and-control programs for making urban space more efficient. 

As part of the imagining and promoting of smart cities, numerous schematic designs have emerged that capture an apparently symbiotic fusing of technology and nature. This special focus on “Tomorrow’s Cities,” gathered together by the BBC , envisions “farmscrapers” and efficient infrastructures combining into a bucolic scene with delivery drones and sensor networks. 

The Connected Urban Development (CUD) initiative, formed through a partnership between Cisco and the Clinton Initiative, with MIT and the Connected Sustainable Cities project (CSC) joining the project as it progressed, is a clear example of smart cities developing into sustainable city initiatives, where sustainability–typically in the form of efficiency–becomes a guiding logic for reworking any number of urban services and operations.[vc_video title="#" link="http://vimeo.com/6145800"]

The perceived importance of reworking smart cities as sustainable cities is frequently narrated through the increasing numbers of people now living in cities, which have become dominant sites of resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This particular CUD video provides example scenarios for how smart city initiatives will realize more optimal urban functioning. Efficiency emerges here within a (gendered) logic of gamification, behavioral responsiveness and optimization. 

As discussed in the “ Programming Environments ” article, the scenarios developed by William Mitchell and Federico Casalegno as part of their Connected Sustainable Cities visioning document illustrate in graphic-novel style the ways in which everyday actions such as commuting, cooking and heating one’s home may be synchronized through ubiquitous computing to enable more efficient use of resources. 

Beyond the use of resources, smart cities might also provide new ways of understanding relationality. Here, an eco-love contest becomes the site where an increasingly competitive approach to environmental monitoring is meant to ensure optimal mating opportunities. 

Urban sensor landscapes are presented in this scenario as not just enabling more efficient transit options, but also as facilitating political participation here through making air pollution data more apparent. However, the steps from data to action remain an elusive proposition, and the more contested and conflicted practices of citizenship that might actually contribute to political change are absent in these data-to-action scenarios. 

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cholars and practitioners of urban planning need to rethink the field’s futures at this important historical juncture: some might call it a moment of truth when there is little left to hide. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many cracks, contradictions, and inequalities that have always existed but are now more visible. This also includes the global vaccine apartheid that is ongoing as I write these words. Moreover, this is a time when the violence through which U.S. imperialism has exercised power worldwide is increasingly exposed. Protests in the summer of 2020, which spread all over the United States like fire through a long-dried haystack, showed Americans and the whole world that racialized violence and police brutality are real. They also revealed that such brutality is spatially facilitated in American apartheid—a condition that planning has been far from innocent in creating and maintaining. I think this reckoning is particularly important in the United States, the belly of the beast, where there might have been more of an illusion about planning innocence.

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Moreover, this is a time when the violence through which U.S. imperialism has exercised power worldwide is increasingly exposed. Protests in the summer of 2020, which spread all over the United States like fire through a long-dried haystack, showed Americans and the whole world that racialized violence and police brutality are real. They also revealed that such brutality is spatially facilitated in American apartheid—a condition that planning has been far from innocent in creating and maintaining. I think this reckoning is particularly important in the United States, the belly of the beast, where there might have been more of an illusion about planning innocence.

• Moreover, this is a time when the violence through which U.S. imperialism has exercised power worldwide is increasingly exposed.
• Protests in the summer of 2020, which spread all over the United States like fire through a long-dried haystack, showed Americans and the whole world that racialized violence and police brutality are real.
• They also revealed that such brutality is spatially facilitated in American apartheid—a condition that planning has been far from innocent in creating and maintaining.
• I think this reckoning is particularly important in the United States, the belly of the beast, where there might have been more of an illusion about planning innocence.
• They also revealed that such brutality is spatially facilitated in American apartheid—a condition that planning has been far from innocent in creating and maintaining. I think this reckoning is particularly important in the United States, the belly of the beast, where there might have been more of an illusion about planning innocence.

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7 innovative projects making cities more sustainable

Could sustainable infrastructure help in the battle against climate change? Image:  Unsplash

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Stay up to date:, sustainable development.

• It’s estimated nearly 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050.
• The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals highlight the need to ensure these cities are safe and sustainable for all.
• Around the world, cities are innovating to help tackle challenges such as climate change.
• Projects include tiny urban forests that could help combat climate change, ‘sponge’ cities that soak up floodwater, and vertical forests that tower into the sky.

With an ever-increasing global population and rising urbanization, creating safe, resilient and sustainable cities is right at the top of the green agenda.

The United Nations included this mission among its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which together form a blueprint for collectively addressing the challenges the world faces.

Have you read?

How green infrastructure is helping to control urban floods, israel’s 'smart commuting' shows what public transport could be like after covid-19, people are planting tiny urban forests to boost biodiversity and fight climate change.

Targets for achieving Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities – include reducing the adverse effects of natural disasters, ensuring everyone has access to green spaces and addressing the environmental impact of cities.

Here are some of the innovative ways cities are rising to the challenge.

1. Sponge cities

Scientists think global warming is increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events , including floods. But some cities are fighting back, using the power of nature to mitigate the risks. In China, concrete neighbourhoods are being interlaced with green spaces that can naturally detain and filter water. The same concept is employed in Singapore, which has been dubbed “the garden city” due to its abundance of greenery.

2. Vertical forests

Short on space, people in cities have often looked upwards for places to expand. In Milan, Italy, architects have done the same with tree cover – creating a " vertical forest " on two residential tower blocks. Boasting 800 trees, 4,500 shrubs and 15,000 plants, the "forest" would cover an area the size of three and a half football pitches if planted on the ground. Similar projects are underway in cities in Switzerland, The Netherlands and China.

3. The 20-minute neighbourhood

Imagine if everything you needed for a happy, healthy life could be found within a 20-minute public transport trip , bike ride or walk from home. Some cities are working to make this a reality, with Melbourne leading the way – it wants residents to always be within easy reach of things like shops, business services, education or leisure facilities.

4. … and anything they can do!

In Paris, the mayor is using the Rue de Rivoli as a prototype for a future metropolis in which no Parisian should need to travel more than 15 minutes on foot or by bike to work, shop, or deal with a government agency.

5. Miniature urban forests

Miniature forests are springing up on patches of land in urban areas around the world using a method inspired by Japanese temples. A botanist found that protected areas around the temples, shrines and cemeteries contained a huge variety of native vegetation that co-existed to produce resilient and diverse ecosystems. The tiny forests are viewed as having potential to help combat climate change.

6. The green train track

Regeneration projects are also at the forefront of sustainable city initiatives, and they are certainly on the right track in Bangkok, where the shortage of green spaces has come under scrutiny. Now an old elevated railway line has been turned into a city park. “It may not be large, but it has outsized importance as a catalyst for urban regeneration, and can change the way people look at public spaces,” said one of the project’s consultants.

7. Smarter commuting

In Israel, a new app could hold the key to creating faster, cleaner and more convenient commutes . Users enter their location and destination, and an algorithm calculates the most efficient journey. Public transport is then rerouted accordingly. The system was introduced to help fight COVID-19, but if implemented permanently it's thought it could save $25 million a year.

By 2050, it is estimated that almost 70% of the world’s population will live in cities , making the concept of sustainable communities an efficient resolution to the growing population.

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Pathways to Sustainable Cities

Still Only One Earth: Lessons from 50 years of UN sustainable development policy

Most of the world’s population lives in urban areas, with the proportion projected to reach 68% by 2050. Increasing urbanization contributes to biodiversity loss, increased material consumption, and climate change. Moving forward, urban planning needs to be inclusive and responsive to the needs of local communities and build on participatory approaches that foster the engagement of marginalized actors while advancing access to basic services such as water and sanitation. Achieving sustainable cities requires overcoming barriers between different levels of government, attending to urban-rural linkages, and fostering decarbonization across the energy, transport, and building sectors. ( Download PDF ) ( See all policy briefs ) ( Subscribe to ENB )

Urban sustainability initiatives regularly make headlines. Paris, France, for example has received much attention for new bike lanes and a generalized speed limit of 30 km/h for motorized traffic. Havana, Cuba, is famous for its urban agriculture ; Curitiba, Brazil, is a pioneer in bus rapid transit systems ; and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is referred to as the world’s cycling capital.

Yet, often enough, when cities are featured in the news, headlines sound the alarm on the detrimental impacts of unsustainable urban development: Jakarta, Indonesia, is sinking ; New Delhi, India, shut down schools amid high levels of air pollution; and residential buildings are collapsing due to lack of maintenance in Marseille, France. Recent reports highlight key figures, including:

• the proportion of the world’s population living in urban areas grew from 30% in 1950 to 55% in 2018 and is projected to reach 68% in 2050, with almost 90% of the projected increase to take place in Asia and Africa (UNDESA, 2019)
• in 2018, 24% of the global urban population lived in slums, often with limited access to basic services and with the proportion being as high as 56% in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNDESA, 2021)
• urban areas have more than doubled between 1992 and 2018, contributing to biodiversity loss (IPBES, 2019)
• cities are powerhouses of economic growth—contributing about 60% of global gross domestic product (GDP), but also account for a high percentage of global carbon emissions and natural resource use (UN, 2019)
• urbanization has exacerbated the impacts of global warming, with urban centres being warmer than their surrounding areas due to the urban heat island effect (IPCC, 2021)

Although sustainable urban development is receiving increased attention, the topic is not new. In fact, it was on the agenda of the very first multilateral environmental conference, the landmark 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden. At the time of the conference, which convened in the context of the decolonization process, urbanization was much lower, though growing. Policymakers nevertheless recognized urban sprawl has destructive impacts on the environment and that, while people move to urban areas with hopes of better employment opportunities and living conditions, cities often struggle to meet the increased demand for housing, mass transit, and other infrastructure. The question of how to ensure sustainable urban development has been on the global agenda ever since.

Planning must be applied to human settlements and urbanization with a view to avoiding adverse effects on the environment and obtaining maximum social economic and environmental benefits for all. In this respect, projects which are designed for colonialist and racist domination must be abandoned. 1972 STOCKHOLM DECLARATION, PRINCIPLE 15

Selected Sustainable Urban Development Milestones

Multi-dimensional Issue

As set forth in the Vancouver Declaration adopted at the 1976 UN Human Settlements Conference (Habitat I), the most important objective of urban development policy is the improvement of the quality of life for all people, beginning with satisfying basic needs such as food, shelter, clean water, employment, health, and education. This objective has been reconfirmed throughout the years, including in the 2016 New Urban Agenda.

This underscores a fundamental reality: the starting line is not the same for all. Whereas fulfilling fundamental needs—such as through improving access to clean piped water and sanitation—remains an important part of urban planning in many cities of the Global South, discussions on sustainable cities in the Global North mainly centre on how to make existing infrastructure more efficient and less wasteful. In the latter, the aim is for a “transformation” of building, energy, transport, and other systems toward enhanced environmental sustainability—for example, promoting better building insulation for reduced heat waste or fostering waste recycling. As Youba Sokona, South Centre, and Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), recently noted, “In Africa the question is less about transformation and more about ‘jump starting’ their development in a sustainable manner.”

Beyond this stark global divide, there are significant differences within individual cities: higher-income neighborhoods are typically better serviced than low-income areas and some communities face discrimination that hampers the fulfillment of their fundamental needs. Life in Banana Island, one of Lagos, Nigeria’s gated communities, with wellmaintained roads and a central sewerage system, is vastly different from that in the nearby Makoko slum, where residents live under the threat of eviction and lack access to basic services (Ajayi et al., 2019). Roma people, Europe’s largest ethnic minority, continue to struggle with precarious housing and the US city of Flint, Michigan, whose African-American inhabitants suffered years of lead-poisoned water before a court confirmed wrongdoing, became the poster child of environmental racism. Today, discussions on ensuring access to basic services for all stand side-by-side with futuristic reflections on urban air mobility and drone-based delivery systems.

Sustainable urban development also spans various sectors, key among them housing, transportation, energy, water, waste, food, and health. But that’s not all. As multilateral declarations adopted over the past fifty years highlight, sustainable urban development also touches on heritage preservation, disaster planning, urban-rural linkages, and much more. Striving for sustainable cities requires a holistic vision for how to accommodate increasingly large urban populations, ensuring sustainable livelihoods, quality of life, and social cohesion, while minimizing cities’ and city dwellers’ immediate and long-term impact on the environment. Consequently, all challenges associated with the very notion of sustainability come to the fore in urban areas.

Finally, sustainable urban development is multi-dimensional because it spans a wide array of urban realities. Cities vary in size, with metropolises such as Manila, Philippines, or Beijing, China, having populations ten times larger than entire countries, such as Slovenia and Lesotho. These cities, which would rank among the top 60 most populous countries of the world, must deal with sustainable urban development challenges on a different scale than cities of little more than 50,000 inhabitants. And differences do not only relate to cities’ sizes, but also to factors such as their historical development and geographic location. Coastal cities must plan for sea level rise, while other cities might face water scarcity or must deal with an industrial downturn. There is no single recipe for sustainable urban development. It materializes differently, depending on cities’ specific contexts.

Urban Sustainability is Shaped by Many Actors

Local governments are the key players for fostering of urban sustainability as they can take measures within their own jurisdiction. They are also increasingly engaged in transnational networks, such as ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. These networks provide space for peer-learning among local governments from different countries and serve to feed urban perspectives directly into regional and global sustainability debates. But fostering sustainable cities is not only a matter for local governments. Other actors have power to steer cities toward sustainability.

For one, while the concrete allocation of authority differs between countries, actors at varying government levels have a role to play. National governments might set up an overall housing strategy with tax incentives for the development of new rental housing or pass legislation on insulation or energy efficiency, while cities can develop specific building codes and measures to support social housing. Others can also influence urban sustainability by adopting specific policies and standards, such as influencing norms or opening funding opportunities. This includes state, provincial, or regional governments in federally structured countries, supranational entities, where relevant, and multilateral fora.

Further, non-governmental actors—including businesses, civil society organizations, schools, research institutions, and faith-based organizations—are also sustainability agents. They can self-govern toward sustainability, such as by adjusting diets in canteen menus or switching to renewable energy . At a larger scale, they can take outward-facing initiatives, such as hosting a repair café to help people fix broken household items and sharing information on grant programs for home retrofits, and pressure governments by lobbying for cities to phase out fossil fuels . Corporate initiatives toward enhanced urban sustainability can help develop new technologies and business models, with many leveraging big data and sharing economy approaches. Actors engage in sustainability initiatives for various reasons. As Westman et al. (2021) show, small- and medium-sized enterprises notably aim to improve their reputation in the local community, increase efficiency, or align with personal values. Some initiatives—such as when exasperated citizens build their own bike lanes —are disruptive and constitute a push for change from the bottom, while at other times windows of opportunity are opened from the top. Change often relies on the interplay between different kinds of actors, both governmental and non-governmental. Fostering urban sustainability nevertheless remains a protracted undertaking. Key challenges include that local governments at times lack the autonomy or fiscal and human capacity to undertake sustainability measures and that powerful actors—such as central governments or large businesses—might stand in the way of change (Beermann et al., 2016).

Key Trends in Sustainable Urban Development

Many new approaches to sustainable urban development are breaking with the long predominant mindset of “taming nature” and are bringing back greenery into the infamous concrete jungle. Think of urban agriculture, which is gaining ground in the collective imagery of sustainable cities.

More broadly, there is a strong move toward what is increasingly termed “ nature-based solutions .” A look at urban water management provides many examples: New York City is restoring oyster reefs , cities like Seoul are daylighting water streams buried under concrete for many decades, and China is supporting the development of so-called sponge cities . Rather than relying only on hard engineering, these cities leverage natural infrastructure to achieve multiple benefits, not only enhancing flood management but also providing recreational opportunities and supporting biodiversity, among other benefits. Many such measures are designed to address climate change, especially from an adaptation and resilience standpoint. They can mitigate the urban heat island effect and flooding—both from increased precipitation events and, where relevant, storm surges. Plants are not only used on the ground and on roofs but also on facades, with architects and urban residents increasingly experimenting with vertical gardens. Similarly, urban wastelands and unused industrial infrastructure are being renatured to provide habitat for urban biodiversity and recreational spaces for city dwellers, with New York City’s High Line and Atlanta’s BeltLine in the US as flagship projects.

Cities are also grappling with the detrimental effects of decades of car-centred urban planning, which fostered urban sprawl, placed a barrier on other forms of transportation, contributed to a large share of cities’ greenhouse gas emissions, and lead to local air pollution (OECD, 2018). Multimodal transportation initiatives are sprouting up around the world in various forms, including: establishing toll roads (Singapore; London, UK), enabling free public transportation for residents (Aubagne, France; Tallinn, Estonia), installing cable cars (Medellín, Colombia; Constantine, Algeria), and giving priority traffic lights to cyclists as a default or when it rains (Odense, Denmark; Rotterdam, the Netherlands). Additionally, there are corporate initiatives such as bicycle and scooter rentals, and civil society actions, such as the collective bike rides of the Critical Mass movement. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a reckoning about the immense amount of urban space allocated to cars. In many cities, residents have become fond of newly extended sidewalks and parking spaces converted for outdoor dining. Whether this will truly bring about permanent change remains to be seen.

More fundamentally, equity considerations are increasingly coming to the fore, as people grapple with the fact that urban development has failed to make cities liveable for all. Building on the work of feminist and disability studies scholars, the World Bank (2020) provides a toolkit for redressing the fact that “In general, cities work better for heterosexual, able-bodied, cisgender men than they do for women, girls, sexual and gender minorities, and people with disabilities” (p. 8). Meehan et al. (2020) draw attention to intersecting social and racialized inequalities that curtail access to basic services, even in some of the most affluent cities in the world. This reckoning not only pertains to the detrimental effects of past urban planning, but also relates to more recent developments. For example, hostile architecture that has flourished in many places with the aim of banishing homeless people is increasingly decried as a manifestation of failures to address the root causes of homelessness and for rendering public spaces unwelcoming to urban dwellers at large. This critical reflection also relates to the potential negative effects of some sustainability measures, where green gentrification can increase local property values and displace existing residents who can no longer afford to live in the neighbourhood (Anguelovski, 2016).

Against this background, it is important to pay attention to inclusive urban planning. Decisions adopted at Habitat I in 1976 already stipulated that “Public participation is a right that must be accorded to all segments of the population, including the most disadvantaged” (p. 76) and that “Citizens must be provided opportunities for direct involvement in the decisions that profoundly affect their lives” (p. 71). This can foster democratic legitimacy and adapt measures to specific local contexts, which can enhance their effectiveness. Yet, as UN-Habitat (2019) notes, ensuring public participation in practice remains a challenge and “when deliberation occurs it is often biased towards more powerful stakeholders with greater resources” (p. 23). To overcome long-standing challenges with implementing participation ideals, scholars, community organizations, and some local governments are experimenting with different approaches, including participatory budgeting and community mapping exercises (Calisto Friant, 2019; Klopp & Cavoli, 2019).

As more and more people live in urban areas, coupled with worsening impacts from climate change and natural resource loss, the magnitude of the urban sustainability challenge and the need for decisive action is bigger than ever. As the world saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, overcrowding and poverty make it difficult to follow recommended measures such as social distancing and self-isolation. This calls for a holistic rethinking about how to make cities liveable for all while minimizing adverse impacts on the environment.

Striving for sustainable cities requires overcoming barriers between different levels of government as well as vested interests in preserving the status quo. It requires looking beyond the sphere of the urban to attend to urban-rural linkages, foster circular resource use, and decarbonize the energy, transport, and building sectors. Urban sustainability requires cross-sectoral planning and attention to the differentiated needs of all urban dwellers so as to leave no one behind in the necessary transformation. Sustainability pathways should be tailored to specific urban contexts. As such, there will never be one single model for what a sustainable city looks like.

Works Consulted

Ajayi, O., Soyinka-Airewele, P., & Samuel, O. (2019). Gentrification and the challenge of development in Makoko, Lagos State, Nigeria: A rights-based perspective. Environmental Justice, 12(2), 41-47. doi.org/10.1089/env.2018.0020

Anguelovski, I. (2015). From toxic sites to parks as (green) LULUs? New challenges of inequity, privilege, gentrification, and exclusion for urban environmental justice. Journal of Planning Literature, 31(1), 23-36. doi.org/10.1177/0885412215610491

Beermann, J., Damodaran, A., Jörgensen, K., & Schreurs, M. A. (2016). Climate action in Indian cities: An emerging new research area. Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 13(1), 55-66. doi.org/10.1080/1943815x.2015.1130723

Calisto Friant, M. (2019). Deliberating for sustainability: Lessons from the Porto Alegre experiment with participatory budgeting. International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 11(1), 81-99. doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2019.1570219

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2021). Regional fact sheet - urban areas. Sixth Assessment Report. Working Group I - The Physical Science Basis. ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/factsheets/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Urban_areas.pdf

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. (2019). Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. S. Díaz, J. Settele, E. S. Brondízio E.S., H. T. Ngo, M. Guèze, J. Agard, A. Arneth, P. Balvanera, K. A. Brauman, S. H. M. Butchart, K. M. A. Chan, L. A. Garibaldi, K. Ichii, J. Liu, S. M. Subramanian, G. F. Midgley, P. Miloslavich, Z. Molnár, D. Obura, A. Pfaff, S. Polasky, A. Purvis, J. Razzaque, B. Reyers, R. Roy Chowdhury, Y. J. Shin, I. J. Visseren-Hamakers, K. J. Willis, and C. N. Zayas (Eds.). ipbes.net/sites/default/files/inline/files/ipbes_global_assessment_report_summary_for_policymakers.pdf

Klopp, J. M., & Cavoli, C. (2019). Mapping minibuses in Maputo and Nairobi: Engaging paratransit in transportation planning in African cities. Transport Reviews, 39(5), 657-676. doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2019.1598513

Meehan, K., Jurjevich, J. R., Chun, N. M. J. W., & Sherrill, J. (2020). Geographies of insecure water access and the housing–water nexus in US cities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(46), 28700-28707. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2007361117

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2018). Rethinking urban sprawl: Moving towards sustainable cities. doi.org/10.1787/9789264189881-en

UN-Habitat. (2019). Mixed reality for public participation in urban and public space design: Towards a new way of crowdsourcing more inclusive smart cities. unhabitat.org/mixed-reality-for-public-participation-in-urban-and-public-spacedesign-towards-a-new-way-of

United Nations. (2019). The Sustainable Development Goals report 2019. unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/

United Nations. (2021). The Sustainable Development Goals report 2021. unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2019). World urbanization prospects: The 2018 revision. population. un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-Report.pdf

UN-Water. (2021). Summary progress update 2021: SDG 6 – water and sanitation for all. unwater.org/publications/summary-progress-update-2021-sdg-6-water-andsanitation-for-all/

Westman, L., Luederitz, C., Kundurpi, A., Mercado, A. J., Weber, O., & Burch, S. L. (2018). Conceptualizing businesses as social actors: A framework for understanding sustainability actions in small- and medium-sized enterprises. Business Strategy and the Environment, 28(2), 388-402. doi.org/10.1002/bse.2256

World Bank. (2020). Handbook for genderinclusive urban planning design. worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/publication/handbook-for-gender-inclusive-urban-planning-and-design

Additional downloads

Government of Canada, Global Affairs Canada

Government of Norway, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Government of Sweden, Ministry of Environment

Deep dive details, you might also be interested in, web of resilience.

Pakistan's development model has still not recognised the limits of the natural environment and the damage it would cause, if violated, to the sustainability of development and to the health and well-being of its population. Pakistan’s environment journey began with Stockholm Declaration in 1972. A delegation led by Nusrat Bhutto represented the country at the Stockholm meeting, resulting in the establishment of the Urban Affairs Division (UAD), the precursor of today’s Ministry of Climate Change. In setting the country’s environmental agenda, we were inspired by the Stockholm Principles, but in reality, we have mostly ignored them for the last five decades.

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Introductory essay

Written by the educators who created Ecofying Cities, a brief look at the key facts, tough questions and big ideas in their field. Begin this TED Study with a fascinating read that gives context and clarity to the material.

Right now, our economy operates as Paul Hawken said, "by stealing the future, selling it in the present and calling it GDP." And if we have another eight billion or seven billion people, living on a planet where their cities also steal the future, we're going to run out of future really fast. But if we think differently, I think that, in fact, we can have cities that are not only zero emissions, but have unlimited possibilities as well. Alex Steffen

The urgency of urban planning today

Within a few decades' time, we can expect the planet to become more crowded, resources more precious, and innovative urban planners increasingly important. By midcentury, the global population will likely top nine billion, and more than half will live in cities. What will these cities look like? Will we have the resources to power them and comfortably provide for their residents? Will global urbanization harmonize with efforts to curb climate change and secure a sustainable future, or are these forces hurtling towards a head-on collision?

The TED speakers featured in Ecofying Cities underscore the urgency, but also suggest that some optimism's in order as they outline the issues and offer imaginative solutions.

There's no single reason for or response to the complex environmental, economic and social challenges that are part of our future in cities. They call for multiple approaches, originating from different sources — individuals, communities, governments, businesses — and deployed at different levels — in the home, the neighborhood, the city, region, nation and across the globe — to respond to the challenges at hand. As Alex Steffen reminds the urban planners, architects, designers, elected leaders and others involved in the effort, "All those cities are opportunities."

Urbanism and the environment: A brief history

For centuries, successful city-building has required careful attention to the environmental consequences of urban development. Without this, as Jared Diamond demonstrated in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed , a city inevitably ended up fouling its nest, thus entering a spiral of epidemics, economic hardship, decline and, ultimately, oblivion. Civilizations evolved different ways of dealing with environmental considerations — some with more success than others. For example, thanks to elaborate aqueducts and sewer systems, the Romans were able to build and sustain for centuries large cities that featured a reliable public water supply and state-of-the-art public health conditions.

In other civilizations, however, residents simply abandoned cities when they could no longer rely on their environment to supply the resources they needed. Often this was a direct result of their own activities: for example, deforestation and the attendant erosion of fertile soil, epidemics due to contaminated water and, with the advent of coal-fired industrialization, air pollution.

Urban planning got its start as a profession largely dedicated to averting different types of crises arising from urban growth and providing conditions for public health. This was particularly true in the many 19th century European and North American cities transformed by industrialization and unprecedented rates of population growth. Rapidly deteriorating air and water quality made it necessary to introduce regulations to protect the health of the residents of these cities.

The planners' first-generation improvements included sewers, water treatment and distribution, and improved air quality through building codes and increased urban green space. It's especially remarkable today to think that these interventions were adopted in response to observable health consequences, but without knowledge of the contamination mechanisms at work: germ theory didn't arrive on the scene until Louis Pasteur published his work in the 1860s. From the late 19th century onward Pasteur's findings bolstered the case for even more urban sanitation improvements, particularly those designed to improve water quality.

Starting in the 1950s, however, planners no longer narrowly targeted immediate health effects on urban residents as their chief environmental concern. Their work also absorbed and reflected Western society's deeper understanding of, and respect for, natural processes and growing awareness of the long-term environmental impacts of cities from the local to the planetary scale.

Rachel Carson is often credited as the first to popularize environmentalism. Published in 1962, her landmark book Silent Spring sounded a warning call about how pesticides endanger birds and entire ecological systems. Soon after, air pollution became a rallying point for environmentalists, as did the loss of large tracks of rural and natural land to accelerated, sprawling development. Today, sustainable development and smart growth, which largely overlap and address multiple environmental considerations, enjoy wide currency; most urban planning is now based on these principles.

Today, as we reckon with population growth, advancing rates of urbanization, and widespread recognition of climate change, we know that the cities of the future share a common destiny. The choices we make about how we build, inhabit and maintain these cities will have global and long-term effects.

Sustainable development: Two schools of thought

In modern urban planning, there are two general categories of sustainable development. The first doesn't challenge the present dynamics of the city, allowing them to remain largely low-density and automobile-oriented, but still makes them the object of measures aimed to reduce their environmental load (for example, green construction practices). Ian McHarg spearheaded this approach as a way to develop urban areas in harmony with natural systems; the planning principles he formulated gave special care to the preservation of water and green space. His lasting influence is visible in many of the more enlightened suburban developments of recent decades which respect the integrity of natural systems. Today, the Landscape Urbanism movement promotes these same ideas.

A second school of urban development focuses on increasing urban density and reducing reliance on the automobile. This approach advocates transit-oriented and mixed-use development along pedestrian-friendly "complete streets." On a regional scale, it aims to reduce sprawl by creating a network of higher-density multifunctional centers interconnected by public transit. Today, it's common for plans with a metropolitan scope to follow this approach.

Studying the city: About these materials

Cities are arguably the most complex human creation (with the possible exception of language) so it's not surprising that we study them at multiple scales and from diverse perspectives. We can approach cities through a narrow focus on an individual building or a neighborhood, expand the investigation to consider a metropolitan region in its entirety, or study the global system of cities and its interconnections. What's more, we can think about cities as built environments, social networks, modified ecologies, economic systems and political entities. Aware of the multiple ways that we engage with cities, the Romans had two words to refer to them: urbs referred to the physical city with its wall and buildings, and civitas , the city as a collection of residents.

Ecofying Cities explores urban areas at different scales. In some cases, the TED speaker focuses on a neighborhood project, like The High Line in Manhattan; others describe city-wide transformation, as in Curitiba, Brazil, or a regional or national initiative like China's plan for a network of eco-cities to house its growing urban population. Likewise, the talks explore cities from different disciplinary perspectives including urban planning, urban design, transportation planning, architecture, community organization and environmental science. What unites them all? A commitment to sustainability and a belief that sustainability is more about creating positive effects rather than reducing negative impacts.

The message emanating from Ecofying Cities is one of complexity, optimism and uncertainty. We can't be sure that the changes these speakers suggest will be enough to help us balance supply and demand in the sustainability equation. But we can expect that their ideas and efforts will improve the built environment — as well as quality of life — in cities, thereby providing hopeful perspectives for a sustainable future.

Let´s begin with writer and futurist Alex Steffen´s TEDTalk "The Sharable Future of Cities" for a look at the interplay between increasing urban density and energy consumption.

Alex Steffen

The shareable future of cities, relevant talks.

Jaime Lerner

A song of the city.

Majora Carter

Greening the ghetto.

Robert Hammond

Building a park in the sky.

Michael Pawlyn

Using nature's genius in architecture.

William McDonough

Cradle to cradle design.

James Howard Kunstler

The ghastly tragedy of the suburbs.

Ellen Dunham-Jones

Retrofitting suburbia.

UNESCO for Sustainable Cities

• UNESCO Celebration of World Cities Day
• Urban Solutions
• Partnerships Hub

All countries have committed to making urban spaces more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . By 2050, two out of every three people will live in cities. We are truly living in the Urban Age. Our cities are now denser, more diverse, more multicultural, more educated and more connected – locally and internationally – than at any point in human history. Yet, all cities are facing the threats of poverty, social inequalities, environmental degradation, health threats, discrimination and disaster caused by natural hazards. With so much at stake, we have to ‘get cities right’ for the future of the planet and all of its inhabitants.

The seventeen goals of the globally endorsed 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development have given fresh impetus to collective efforts to strengthen the linkages between the social, economic and environmental aspects of development. Goal 11, in particular, aims to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. Whilst many countries have made progress on the seventeen goals of the 2030 Agenda, cities have proven to be remarkably agile and innovative partners. Well-designed policies in cities can also have positive effects on neighboring rural areas, meaning urban development resonates beyond municipal boundaries.

UNESCO believes that for cities to become truly liveable places, we need innovation in all spheres of human activity. Innovation – whether it be social, cultural, educational or in science and technology – strengthens resilience and builds more cohesive societies. City stakeholders are the engines of sustainable development at the local level and can offer valuable success stories and experiences. UNESCO, as a laboratory of ideas and a catalyst for international dialogue, brings these city stakeholders together to share good practices and strengthen action towards sustainable development of cities. The Platform gives UNESCO a more strategic, comprehensive vision through coordinated action. It reinforces the linkages between all our areas of action in education, culture, the natural and human sciences, communication, and information. The bedrock of our approach is a people-centred philosophy and participatory decision-making so that all city-dwellers, including the most vulnerable, have a say in their collective future.

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Sustainable Cities and Communities

The world is developing at an unprecedented scale. Over the next 20 years, urban population in developing countries will double to 4 billion, while the urbanized land area will triple. Rapid growth helps create new opportunities, but it has also brought serious social, economic, and environmental challenges.

Today, 1 billion people live in urban slums, and 1.5 billion people live in countries affected by repeated cycles of violence. In the past decade, the number of people affected by natural disasters tripled to 2 billion. Low-income countries have accounted for only 9% of the disaster events but 48% of fatalities since 1980. The burden of disasters, conflict, crime, and violence falls disproportionately on the poor.

Urban and rural communities around the world increasingly feel the urge to tackle these challenges and increase their resilience to poverty and inequality, social exclusion, violence and fragility, as well as climate change and disaster risks. Building sustainable communities—whether they are villages, cities, or countries and societies at large—will be critical to eliminating poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

Specifically, the concept of “ Sustainable Cities and Communities ” of the World Bank’s Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice (GPURL) includes four key dimensions:

• First, Sustainable Communities are environmentally sustainable in terms of cleanliness and efficiency.
• Second, Sustainable communities are resilient to social, economic, and natural shocks. They are well prepared for natural disasters, which are increasing in intensity and frequency due to climate change.
• Third, Sustainable Communities are inclusive communities. They bring all dimensions of society and all groups of people—including the marginalized and vulnerable—into their markets, their services, and their development.
• And finally, Sustainable Communities are competitive communities that can stay productive and generate jobs for members of the community.

Building inclusive, resilient, competitive and sustainable cities and communities is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity at the local, regional, and national levels.

Join us in our efforts to build sustainable cities and communities worldwide! Read our blog series  and subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated .

In building Sustainable Communities, the World Bank focuses on its work in four areas, led by the Bank’s Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice (GPURL):

• Urban Development : urban planning, services, and institutions
• Disaster Risk Management : mainstreaming resilience in all dimensions of development
• Land  and Geospatial : territorial and rural development

Urban Planning, Services, and Institutions – Urban Development:

The World Bank’s work in urban development aims to  build sustainable cities and communities  through an urbanization process that is inclusive, resilient and low carbon, productive, and livable, contributing to the  Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No.11 , implementation of the  New Urban Agenda , as well as the World Bank’s goals to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.

The World Bank invests an average of $6 billion in urban development and resilience projects every year to help cities meet the critical demands of urbanization. The Bank’s Urban Development strategy focuses on three priorities:

• Financing the New Urban Agenda
• Promoting territorial development
• Enhancing urban resilience to climate change and disaster risks

The three priorities are translated into six business lines:

• Cities and economic growth
• Urban poverty and inclusion
• Municipal infrastructure and services
• Affordable housing and land
• Urban management, finance, and governance
• Cities and urban environment

The Bank is working in partnership with the private sector, governments, and civil society to build clean and efficient cities and communities that are resilient to natural disasters, and to create competitive economies that provide new kinds of jobs for people and ensure that everyone, especially the poorest, can benefit. 

For more information, see  www.worldbank.org/urban

Mainstreaming Resilience – Disaster Risk Management:

Disasters hurt the poor and vulnerable the most. From 1995 through 2014, 89% of storm-related fatalities were in lower-income countries, even though these countries experienced just 26% of storms. The impact of disasters will continue to grow as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

Over the past decade, the World Bank has emerged as the global leader in disaster risk management (DRM), supporting client countries to assess exposure to hazards and address disaster risks. It provides technical and financial support for risk assessments, risk reduction, preparedness, financial protection, and resilient recovery and reconstruction. 

For more information, see www.worldbank.org/disaster

Territorial and Rural Development – Land and Geospatial:

Land is at the center of many development challenges. Estimates suggest that around 30% of land rights are registered or recorded worldwide. The World Bank is working to address land tenure insecurity through land administration projects, analytical work, and technical assistance. The World Bank actively works with countries and partners worldwide to ensure women’s equal access and secure rights to land and property. The World Bank also supports the land rights of smallholders and Indigenous Peoples, displaced people, and refugees.

The World Bank is working on land tenure as well as land and geospatial infrastructure and systems in dozens of countries across the world, with an investment of approximately $1.5 billion in commitments, impacting millions of land holders in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa. 

The World Bank is increasingly working to open land and geospatial datasets for acceleration of growth. The Bank is also preparing a “Land 2030 Global Initiative” to enhance the commitment of countries and mobilize resources to achieve ambitious targets of securing land and property rights by 2030.

For more information, see www.worldbank.org/land

Click on the links below to learn more about the World Bank’s operational and analytical work in:

• Disaster Risk Management

Urban Development

The World Bank is actively working in partnership with the governments, civil society, academia, private sector, and others to build inclusive, resilient, competitive, and sustainable communities for all.

As the partnership grows, the Sustainable Communities  newsletter serves as a platform for development practitioners at the World Bank and around the world to stay informed and exchange ideas with their partners on the most pressing issues in global development, such as social development, urban development, disaster risk management and climate change, conflict and violence, and land governance.

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Green Cities and Urban Sustainability Strategies Essay

Introduction, built environment, urban agriculture, works cited.

By the beginning of the 21st century, the vast majority of the planet’s population has moved from rural to urban areas around the globe. This gradual phenomenon is associated with the increased urbanization that is still expected to occur worldwide within the next several decades; namely, it is projected that at least two-thirds of the global population will relocate to live in cities in the next three decades, thus creating an inflow of urban population as large as two and a half billion people (Kammen and Sunter 922).

The rapid growth of the urban population has produced a set of negative effects on the cities causing urban decay, the serious strain on infrastructure, and the overconsumption of resources. Moreover, due to the influx of population in urban areas, the adverse environmental outcomes of anthropogenic nature on the areas strengthened. In particular, the increased use of motor vehicles and activity of industries resulted in the production of more emissions of greenhouse gases aggravating the change of climate.

As a result, cities began to require a new approach to development and planning based on a higher level of sustainability. This goal can be achieved through a series of initiatives aimed at the minimization of the negative effects of the growing population density and the maximization of the efficiency of resources and services in the areas. The purpose of this report is to discuss three urban sustainability strategies focusing on transportation means, built environment, and urban agriculture and identify their main challenges and opportunities, best policy instruments, as well as the issues of effectiveness and equity for city sustainability.

The Best Policy Instruments and Infrastructure Investments for Sustainability

In their report, Pucher and Buechler indicated that the surveys of the carbon footprints of the countries of Europe compared to those of the United States showed that the former states seemed to be more productive and successful in their attempts to cut carbon emissions released by motor vehicles (“Walking and Cycling for Healthy Cities” 6-8). However, the authors also specified that a more detailed review of the findings revealed that the major differences in the intensity of the carbon footprints of the two areas were based majorly on the sizes of their territories and the location and planning of urban regions (Pucher and Buechler, “Walking and Cycling for Healthy Cities” 6-7).

In particular, it was noted that in larger territories where people had to travel several kilometers to various destinations, they were more likely to use cars instead of bicycles or walking. Due to the larger territory, the United States tends to have larger and more highly populated cities where people are to travel long distances to get from one location to another; accordingly, the US has more cars that are used more frequently.

In that way, some of the best instruments for the popularization and promotion of cycling and walking is the sustainable planning where the most common destinations and resources are located closer to one another thus reducing the people’s need to use motor vehicles to navigate the urban areas.

The Issues of Effectiveness and a Concern for Equity within the City

It goes without saying that riding a bicycle and walking are known as the healthiest means of transportation that are also safe for the environment because they produce no GHG emissions and also offer a good amount of physical activity to the people who use them. In that way, health benefits are generated both directly and indirectly due to the reduction of emissions and the improvement of the quality of air as well as the facilitation of healthy lifestyle choices (Pucher and Buechler, “Walking and Cycling for Healthy Cities” 2).

However, apart from this aspect, the aforementioned modes of transportation present a series of other advantages for the population of urban areas. In addition to the benefits of having good quality air in urban areas, the increased use of bicycles and walking also contributes to the reduction of noise pollution – another common and quite harmful effect of the use of motor vehicles in highly populated districts.

Moreover, it is also important to notice that the GHG emission produced by cars results in the pollution of water sources that are impacted by the presence of harmful combustion byproducts in the atmosphere. Finally, another obvious factor that contributes to the overall value of the use of bicycles and walking as means of transportation is the reduction of the prevalence of dangerous traffic accidents (Pucher and Buechler, “Walking and Cycling for Healthy Cities” 2).

Also, in regard to financial benefits, walking and bicycle riding are rather cost-effective and economical as they require less costs than cars in terms of personal use, maintenance, and infrastructure arrangements (Pucher and Buechler, “Sustainable Transport in Freiburg: Lessons from Germany’s Environmental Capital” 47).

These modes of transportation are affordable for most people, and this factor contributed to the strong equity of the use of walking and cycling as parts of sustainable development and planning of urban areas. All in all, walking and cycling are unbeatable as the sources of heath, environmental, and economic benefits which makes them a very valuable solution.

The Biggest Challenges and Opportunities

One of the main challenges related to the promotion of the use of bicycles and walking as preferred modes of transportation is based on the implementation of controversial policies to which members of the general public can react negatively (Pucher and Buechler, “Sustainable Transport in Freiburg: Lessons from Germany’s Environmental Capital” 60). Such policies should be implemented gradually and in several stages to ensure a smooth transition.

Also, the promotion of these means of transportation requires the reorganization of infrastructure and resources in a manner that makes this solution appropriate for residents. In well-planned areas, a policy supported by the higher level of government is an excellent long-term opportunity with multiple lasting benefits.

Most of the contemporary large urban areas are unequipped to face and handle the rapid growth of the population in a sustainable manner; in order to increase the sustainability in regard to the improvement of the quality of air and the reduction of GHG emissions, cities are to focus on low carbon and eco-friendly sources of renewable energy one of which is solar energy. Mainstream urban construction oriented at the inclusion of solar panels as a part of the city planning is likely to achieve what can be referred to as zero energy and reduced carbon built environments and homes (Berry and Whaley 91-92).

Infrastructure investments allowing the implementation of solar energy generation for the urban use should be directed at the standardized installation, renovation, and construction of the required photovoltaic equipment in the built environments which may result in flawed delivery and thus call for more costs than planned at first (Berry and Whaley 97). In that way, policy instruments should aim at the optimization of the building design for the appropriate performance levels and be based on thorough evidence and research.

As mentioned previously, the installation and the adjustment of the new standards for solar equipment must match the environments in which it will be used. Inappropriate or flawed research and calculations, as well as the errors during installation, will lead to the ineffective use of equipment and the loss of costs (Berry and Whaley 98).

In that way, it can be said that the effectiveness and equity of this particular policy are highly dependent on the city structures as well as the solar radiation levels in the area and throughout the seasons. For some organizations and buildings this adjustment can be unacceptable or unreasonable due to their location; also, the implementation of this policy will call for the reduction of the number of trees located closely to the populated areas which can negatively impact the quality of air.

The main challenge related to the switch to solar energy is the need for investment in the equipment that may not work properly or not result in the expected benefits due to insufficient research, inappropriate location, seasonal changes in solar radiation levels, and flawed installation and maintenance. However, the opportunity to create zero carbon and zero energy homes is highly beneficial for urban areas, and even if only some of the districts can be equipped with solar panels – it could still be advantageous (Kammen and Sunter 922).

Kirshnan et al. defined urban agriculture as “the growing, processing, and distribution of food and other products through intensive plant cultivation and animal husbandry in and around cities” (325). Best policy instruments for the change aimed at this innovation should aim at the effective and alternative use of land (Wier and Zomer). In addition, Kirshnan et al. recognize food charters as a convenient and effective policy instrument allowing the promotion of the ideas of food security, sustainability, and safety driven by urban agriculture (338-339).

Similarly to the issues faced by innovative planning strategies aiming at the increased use of solar energy in urban areas, urban agriculture also deals with the issues of equity since the relocation of the sources of consumable foods and grown non-food resources to the urban areas is possible in the cities that have the appropriate structures and spaces (Rainwater 46-47). However, the equity is high with this initiative and under the sufficient planning, the areas suitable for urban agriculture can be found if not within, then near the city, thus placing the source of consumable goods closer to the city and minimizing the energy and time spent on the delivery and making the supply chain shorter and more efficient.

The major challenge faced by urban agriculture is linked to the lack of awareness about this practice, and thus the insufficiency of support for its implementation is present (Kirshnan et al. 335-340). In that way, the policies aimed at the introduction of this innovative practice to the urban planning initiatives are to take into consideration the social perception of this change and the potential barriers slowing down its enforcement. The promotion of appropriate values is necessary for the urban authorities to ensure the positive social attitude to this change and a high level of readiness to embrace it and participate in its development.

The major opportunity for the promotion of urban agriculture is the modern social trend for food consciousness, which makes many modern urban citizens more appreciative of a high quality of food, as well as of the chance to learn in detail how it is produced and delivered.

Of the three domains of the sustainable urban planning discussed in this report, the one supporting the healthy and environmentally safe transportation options seems to be the most promising way to reduce the carbon footprint of the city. In addition to the obvious benefits such as the reduction of GHG emissions produced by motor vehicles, the increased use of bicycles in urban areas is also beneficial for the public health and safety because it offers a daily exercise for a better quality of life and safer roads with lower and less dangerous traffic.

Also, in well-populated city centers, this initiative can be gradually introduced due to the dense location of destinations and resources; whereas, in less active urban areas, certain infrastructure adjustments and a more effective placement of common destinations will be needed for the change to work properly (Condon 68).

Condon, Patrick M. Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities . Island Press, n.d.

Berry, Stephen and David Whaley. “The Implications of Mandating Photovoltaics on All New Homes.” Energy Procedia, vol. 83, 2015, pp. 91 – 100.

Kammen, Daniel M. and Deborah A. Sunter. “City-Integrated Renewable Energy for Urban Sustainability.” Urban Planet , vol. 325, no. 6288, 2016, pp. 922-928.

Kirshnan, Sarada et al. “Sustainable Urban Agriculture: A Growing Solution to Urban Food Deserts.” Organic Farming for Sustainable Agriculture , edited by Dilip Nandwani, Springer, 2016, pp. 324-344.

Pucher, John and Ralph Buehler. “Sustainable Transport in Freiburg: Lessons from Germany’s Environmental Capital.” International Journal of Sustainable Transportation , vol. 5, 2011, pp. 43–70.

—. “Walking and Cycling for Healthy Cities.” Built Environment , vol. 36, no. 4, 2010, pp 391-414.

Rainwater, Brooks. Local Leaders in Sustainability. The American Institute of Architects, 2009.

Wier, Emily and Alisa Zomer. “Land Use Planning: The Critical Part of Climate Action Plans that Most Cities Miss.” The Nature of Cities , n.d. Web.

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Essay: Creating sustainable cities and communities

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The Sustainable Development Goal of creating sustainable cities and communities was created by the United Nations in 2015 and listed as a goal to be completed locally and globally by 2030. The formal goal of this Sustainable Development Goal is, ‘to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable’ (United Nations, 2015). In simpler terms, this goal focuses on creating safe and tight-knit communities, promoting local businesses and forms of transportation, and protecting the environment from the overuse of resources and pollution. The term sustainability can be defined as the, ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (United Nations, 2015). The creation and success of sustainable cities lies in the aspects of temporal and social scales, stakeholders, and environmental, economic, and social change. Without these many factors, cities would suffer in their economies, their environments, and their populations which would ruin these cities for future generations-the opposite effect that sustainability should have. Temporal and Spatial Scales for Sustainable Cities The idea of making cities and communities sustainable on temporal and spatial scales is not only confined to local areas, but the idea has expanded globally. Since ‘more than half of the world’s populations live in cities’ (United Nations, 2015), the United Nations must focus on the implementation of sustainability in order to prevent factors such as unsafe neighborhoods due to poverty. Another challenge for the United Nations is keeping most of the human population out of slums. The slums are considered to be the worst areas of neighborhood due to their pollution and dangerous living conditions, mostly resulting from poverty. The United Nations reports that ‘Globally, more than 880 million people were living in slums in 2014. This estimate does not include people in inadequate or unaffordable housing’ (United Nations, 2015). These numbers were one of the many causes of the United Nations focusing on the completion of this goal in order to better living conditions for all people. Globally, some of the least sustainable cities are found in areas such as Africa, Asia, Europe, and even the United States. Many of these cities are deemed unsustainable due to their economy, population, or frankly, their weather conditions (Hamilton & Sommer, 2016). Phoenix, Arizona for example, is considered one of the least sustainable cities in America due to the scorching climates and limited water supply (Stern, 2016). Although there are a lack of sustainable cities  found throughout the world, this is due to the fact that people in the past never had enough education to even consider trying to make a city sustainable. The fate of these cities can be changed by, ‘reducing energy costs, improving quality of service, reducing waste, providing better urban environments, and creating economic opportunities’ (Hamilton & Sommer, 2016). Some of the ways these factors can be implemented through cities is through public transportation, affordable housing, and moving local businesses closer to neighborhoods for easy access. Many cities have already begun to implement these factors. Areas such as Arizona and New York have public transportation that runs all over the different cities in order to provide easy, yet sustainable options for people. Globally, countries such as Hong Kong and Germany are known for their well-run public transportation systems (Faris, 2015). Hong Kong is an extremely sustainable area due to their people, planet, and profit. The planet portion of their sustainability has to do with their recycling, the low amount of pollution they have, and their sanitation. The profit portion has to do with living costs, global networking, and business in the city (Cheam & Tang, 2015). Also, Arizona, especially Phoenix has begun creating zoning laws to map out the locations of houses, businesses, and environmentally friendly areas such as parks. Throughout the map, it can be observed that Phoenix is creating more apartment complexes and condos to provide affordable housing for people in safe areas of the city. Once the poor, who make up most of a city’s population, have safe and affordable places to live, slums will practically be non-existent (City of Phoenix, 2015). Due to the plethora of cities in this goal, the heightened issues in each city, and the fact that this goal needs to be completed by 2030, this means that resources and factors need to be monitored. Some of these factors include, ‘resource efficiency, social and economic viability, diversity of neighbourhood and environment, leadership and vision, and collaboration and partnership’ (Bristow, 2012). If people do not end up dealing with these problems locally or globally, and they do not monitor their resources, this could result in deaths due to diseases, running out of resources, and a major increase in pollution. Due to the fact that this problem is apparent in local cities such as Phoenix and cities all around the globe, each city needs to focus on an efficient plan to increase sustainability. If each city is not careful in their planning or the carrying out of their goal, then this could run the risk of a plethora of many environmental factors including but not limited to: pollution, unsafe housing, and crowded cities due to the limited usage of public transportation. The Actors and Stakeholders of Sustainable Cities Locally and Globally In order to be able to live in cities that are environmentally friendly and can support millions of new people for the new few decades and beyond, cities must be made sustainable. Although the importance of sustainability recently became extremely prevalent due to the goal of the United Nations, many people are currently being educated on the topic to provide awareness and knowledge. Not only does the United Nations want people to know what sustainability is, but they also want them to have an in-depth understanding of the topic in order for them to be able to complete the goal locally and educate others on the goal. This is due to the fact that once people know more about sustainability, that will ultimately convince them to do things such as take public transportation and buy local goods. People who are uneducated and refuse to keep their purchases and transportation local are major setbacks for this goal. By keeping pollution levels low and keeping everything local, these people can be extremely helpful towards the completion of the goal. Although sustainable cities are extremely beneficial for the health of the environment and the people, the factors going into them require a massive amount of hard work. When designing sustainable urban systems, this, ‘requires an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates scientific inquiry, technological innovation, legal coordination, and new policy ideas’ (Herring, 2016). In order to complete all of these factors, there need  to be many actors and stakeholders helping out in cities. Some of the actors and stakeholders for the creation of sustainable cities include public sectors, private sectors, and civil society. These three actors and stakeholders are ultimately governments, businesses, and community organizations. Government support appears in all different levels including international, city, sector, and neighborhood (Belgian Technical Cooperation, 2008). Stakeholders and actors can be found both locally (in Phoenix) and globally. In Phoenix, there is a well-known non-profit organization called Local First. Local First holds many events all around Arizona to promote people to buy locally and appreciate their environment. Local First supports many local businesses, the use of public transportation, and easy accessibility from homes to businesses (Local First, 2016). As for global organizations, the World Urban Campaign is well known for being, ‘An advocacy and partnership platform to raise awareness about positive urban change in order to achieve green, productive, safe, healthy, inclusive, and well planned cities’ (World Urban Campaign, 2009). The World Urban Campaign currently has 136 partners and networks included in the organization from around the globe . Some of their goals include being able to provide safe and liveable cities for people all over the globe since the organization mainly focuses on sustainability (World Urban Campaign, 2009). With the creation of these organizations, this helps the United Nations goal of sustainability to be completed both locally and globally. The Environmental, Social, and Economic Aspects For Sustainable Cities Sustainable cities are defined by the World Bank as,’resilient cities that are able to adapt to, mitigate, and promote economic, social, and environmental change’ (Hamilton & Sommer, 2016). Economic, social, and environmental change are all great effects of sustainable cities both locally and globally. Due to the large populations of cities, ‘cities are responsible for 67% of the total global energy consumption and more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions and these trends significantly intensify the severity of some of the two great challenges of our time; climate change and energy security’ (Cudazi, 2016). In all cities, locally and globally, some of the biggest environmental fears that they face have to do with climate change and waste. Due to the fact that such large populations live in cities, there are many different forms of energy being used such as fossil-fuel. This fossil-fuel is then spreading into the air, which is fueling global warming, and therefore fueling climate change. Also, due to the high populations, waste is also out of control. Especially in low poverty areas, waste seems to be one of the biggest factors hurting both the environment and the cleanliness/safety of cities. High population also contributes to the overuse of natural resources in the cities. Cities often take advantage of the amount of resources they have, and they do not conserve them. This can lead to ultimately running out of resources, and in this case, the city would not be able to supply everyone’s needs (Cudazi, 2016). Also, since there are so many people to support in cities, that means that housing is extremely important. The downside of housing is that it has a negative impact on the environment because it is tearing down the resources that could be useful such as trees. Locally, Phoenix struggles with environmental factors which is why it is one of the least sustainable cities in the United States. Phoenix has dry and scorching climates which limits the water supply and the amount of resources the city has to provide (Stern, 2016). Although the city is moving towards being more sustainable, the conservation of water is extremely important in order to be successful and to be able to support millions of people. Globally, there is a difference on the environment factors between developed and undeveloped cities. For instance, ‘While the impact of each individual citizen in developing countries will remain lower than in developed country counterparts for the foreseeable future, these populations are simultaneously urbanizing, growing, and increasing consumption rates’ (Campbell-Lendrum & Corval”n, 2007). This means that since developing countries are not completely up and running and do not have as big of populations as developed countries, that they have less of an effect on the environment than other cities. There are many undeveloped countries in the world such as South Africa, Asia, and Thailand, and since they do not have enough money to keep constantly changing cities, they do not have to support a huge population similar to countries such as the United States (Cudazi, 2016). When it comes to the social aspects of sustainable cities, the cities that are more affected are found in developing countries. For example, ‘This constitutes another dark side of urban development, the ‘social inequity’ that can be regarded as a mere result of unbalanced and uneven structure of urbanization, especially in many developing countries’ (Cudazi, 2016). Many of the social aspects of cities depends on how a city is governed or managed. If a city is governed or managed incorrectly, the populations could suffer due to lack of resources, which would result in unhealthy living conditions. Also, with the promoted rapid usage of public transportation and the movement of businesses closer to homes, this will promote the social life in cities. For instance, in Phoenix, many people are used to taking their cars into work each morning and not socializing with many people. With sustainability in cities, there is a need to convince people to move closer to their work and close in the cities in order to have access to local businesses. By using public transportation and visiting local businesses, people are able to build strong relationships that they would not have if they were isolated in their own car or home. What many city economies are trying to establish is a ‘green economy.’ This green economy has to do with spending money on things that help cities to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly (AKA green). By ‘understanding how the city economy and politics function and how the city is connected to a larger world (regional, national, global) is fundamental to understanding how to create institutional mechanisms to move the world towards a green economy’ (Cudazi, 2016). These factors also make a city more globally aware of their other surroundings and how other cities are using their economy to benefit their goal of sustainability in cities. Many developing cities are going to have a hard time affording many of the changes to make a city sustainable, which is devastating to their economy. They need to afford things such as resources, new forms of energy, and the creation of new buildings.  By being able to go green and budgeting their money, cities will begin to discover new ways to not go bankrupt. While this understanding is important, it is also important for people to realize how much they can benefit the economy by just going local. For instance in Phoenix, there are many local organizations such as Local First Arizona who dedicate their work to providing spaces for local businesses to create tight-knit communities. By taking the time to purchase something from a local business instead of a Starbucks is extremely beneficial to the economy. For instance, ‘for every $100 spent at a locally owned  business, $43 remains in the economy. For every $100 spent at a non-locally owned business, only $13 remains in the economy’ (Local First, 2016). With the large amount of money that is kept in the economy from local businesses, that can be used to benefit the city even more by creating safer and more sustainable communities. Overall, the success in the completion of the goal to create sustainable cities and communities locally and globally lies in the factors of sustainability. These factors include temporal and spatial scales, stakeholders, and economic, social, and environmental effects. All of these factors promote controlled usage of resources, the management of waste, and an influenced economy (just to name a few). The factors also promote the usage of public transportation, having safe and affordable housing, and by convincing people to stay local by moving businesses closer to their proximities. Without sustainability, negative factors such as climate change can take over and causes horrible effects for everyone. The creation of sustainable cities and communities is ultimately beneficial due to the positive effects it has on the environment, economy, and social aspects of an area.

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Essay on Sustainable Cities and Climate Change

Introduction

Cities constitute a mere 2% of the total space on earth but contribute to an enormous amount of environmental damage. This is because cities are highly populated, and maintaining sustainable lifestyles is a challenge for many regions (Thornbush, Golubchikov & Bouzarovski, 2013). The high population in cities plays a significant role in increased emissions that lead to pollution. Moreover, the dense nature of cities has led to increased social problems due to congestion. It is important to examine the role that cities play in increased air pollution and congestion issues. Equally, it is the interest of the study to examine solutions that can apply to handle air pollution and congestion as a way of ensuring sustainability (Höjer & Wangel, 2015). Climate change is as a result of increased activity that contributes to more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The paper seeks to explore two major problems identified in cities and provide comprehensive solutions that can help avert climate change.

Problems Related to the Topic

The first problem that can be associated with sustainability is air pollution, which has contributed to a significant level of climate change. The high population in cities contributes to increased emission of greenhouse gases that lead to global warming (Thornbush, Golubchikov & Bouzarovski, 2013). It is vital to note that individuals living in cities use personal cars and public services to move to and from town. The high number of vehicles that use fuel increases emissions, contributing to a significant level of air pollution. Cities are the key to helping stop climate change that is having a far much more negative impact. Equally, manufacturing companies in cities and towns contribute to high emissions that are experienced in the world today. The fact that cities are densely populated means that they require active manufacturing industries to meet the demand in the market (Rohde & Muller, 2015). Air pollution is a major problem in towns and requires strategic policies for proper mitigation. Farming practices in suburbs surrounding cities contribute to pollution that has derailed sustainable development. The pesticides and other agrochemicals used in such places is a contributor to air pollution. Cities should find a way of reducing the population in their bid to combat high greenhouse gas emissions (Benton-Short & Short, 2013). Farmers should reduce the amount of pesticides and other chemicals that they spray in large farms. This will help reduce the problem of air pollution that hs resulted in global warming in most parts of the world.

The second problem that is notable is urban congestion, which has led to the growth of social problems. Social problems are the very cause of economic deterioration in major economies in the world (Benton-Short & Short, 2013). Social problems crop up in cities due to increased population with no sustainability capacity. The ever-growing population in cities requires strategic urban planning for it o achieve sustainability status. For instance, crime and the spread of diseases are examples of social issues that arise in a congested town. Congested cities put pressure on existing resources, which is a major contributor to climate change and at the same time, hinders economic progress (Benton-Short & Short, 2013). Other social problems that may arise in cities include unemployment, drug and substance abuse, and prostitution, among others. It is important to devise strategic approaches that can help reduce congestion in cities as a way of averting climate change and promoting sustainable development. For instance, congestion in cities with no expansion plans can be detrimental to economic progress within a country. It inserts excessive pressure on resources and attracts other problems such as crime and murder (Rohde & Muller, 2015). Congestion results in housing problems, unemployment and high over-dependency on the few working-class. Countries with high population should serve as learning examples for cities to devise mechanisms of decongesting their dense population.

Solutions to Problems

The first case study solution that can help understand how to mitigate the problem is reducing human activity in major cities. For instance, the coronavirus pandemic outbreak has indicated to the world that reducing air pollution is possible (Watts & Kommenda, 2020). This is because the outbreak has led to a lockdown in major cities around the world, including Wuhan, New Delhi and Seoul, among others. Research indicates that there is a reduction in air pollution by approximately 60% since there is reduced activity. Lockdowns in such cities should serve as an example that can help transform the world and administer sustainability (Isaifan, 2020). In essence, authorities in urban centres should consider it important to set up legislation that reduces pollution as a way of administering sustainability in the long-run. The fact that there is restricted movement of vehicles and people means that there is a reduced level of emissions. There is a need for various governments to impose restrictions on the use of personal cars in cities as a way of encouraging public transport Watts & Kommenda, 2020). The move can lead to reduced levels of greenhouse emissions to the atmosphere. The lockdown circumstance should be a case study that most economies and cities should learn from in a bid to strategize on mitigating air pollution.

The problem of urban congestion can be handled by developing strategic housing and urban development programs that aim to decongest various cities (Bulkeley & Betsill, 2013). The case of London can help explain how the development of new towns and gardens helped decongest the city. New towns and garden estates provide a sustainable long-term solution to urban congestion. In the event, social problems that lead to increased pressure on existing resources are controlled (Bulkeley & Betsill, 2013). Decongesting cities and other urban centres ensure equal economic progress countrywide in many nations. Social problems that arise due to congestion in cities will reduce, and an economy is tipped to grow under such circumstances. Crime and unemployment can be contained with appropriate urban housing and decongestion programs. In essence, cities can change the narrative and be at the forefront of administering sustainability (Höjer & Wangel, 2015). The impact of urban congestion on existing resources is a matter that can be reduced through decentralization of industries to regions that have low population. Also, legislation should be in place to control the nature and level of housing in urban centres as a way of ensuring that quality and sustainability standards have been achieved.

Sustainable cities are a reality if society commits towards sustainability programs within cities. Cities contribute to a significant amount of problems that result in climate change in one way or the other. The paper explores problems associated with sustainability and climate change in cities and proposes possible solutions to help combat the issues. Air pollution and urban congestion are two major problems that are associated with dense populations in cities. Reducing congestion can be achieved by setting up new towns that can help change the scope of urban centres. Decentralization of manufacturing industries can help reduce emissions to the atmosphere as a way of preventing further climate change. Equally, limiting the use of personal cars in cities can be controlled to reduce high emissions form vehicles in densely populated cities. As such, cities can be used as a way of advancing sustainable economic development and avert possible climate changes.

Benton-Short, L., & Short, J. R. (2013).  Cities and nature . Routledge.

Bulkeley, H., & Betsill, M. M. (2013). Revisiting the urban politics of climate change.  Environmental politics ,  22 (1), 136-154.

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Enhancing Urban Livability: Strategies for Sustainable Quality of Life

This essay about enhancing urban livability into the multifaceted challenges and innovative strategies required to create sustainable quality of life in modern cities. It highlights the importance of accessible transportation and green spaces in fostering mobility and well-being for all residents. Moreover, it emphasizes the significance of social inclusivity and affordable housing in creating vibrant and equitable urban communities. By weaving together elements of infrastructure, social cohesion, and environmental stewardship, the essay paints a picture of cities that thrive amidst the complexities of urban life, offering hope and possibility for a brighter, more sustainable future.

How it works

In an era where the pulse of humanity beats strongest in urban landscapes, the pursuit of urban livability stands as a paramount challenge. Within the confines of concrete jungles, where dreams meet the reality of limited space and resources, the quest for sustainable quality of life becomes a narrative of innovation and adaptation.

Central to this narrative is the orchestration of accessibility and connectivity within urban arteries. Efficient public transit arteries not only alleviate the congestion and pollution that clog urban veins but also foster a sense of mobility for all, regardless of socio-economic standing.

Investments in interconnected bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly thoroughfares paint a picture of a city in motion, promoting active lifestyles and fostering a communal spirit that transcends the boundaries of steel and glass.

Yet, the canvas of urban livability extends beyond mere infrastructure to embrace the verdant sanctuaries nestled amidst the concrete sprawl. Parks, with their emerald tapestries, and urban forests, with their arboreal sentinels, offer more than just visual respite; they serve as oases of ecological balance, cleansing the urban atmosphere and nurturing biodiversity. But their true magic lies in their ability to serve as communal hearths, where the flames of human connection are kindled amidst the rustling leaves and dappled sunlight, nourishing the soul as much as the body.

However, the narrative of urban livability is not solely about bricks and mortar; it is a tale of social inclusivity woven into the fabric of city life. Community hubs, with their open arms and welcoming embrace, become crucibles of cultural exchange and mutual understanding, transcending barriers of language, race, and creed. In these crucibles, the mosaic of urban life finds its true colors, vibrant and diverse, yet harmonious in its unity.

Moreover, the pursuit of urban livability must confront the specter of housing insecurity that haunts the shadows of every metropolis. In the labyrinth of soaring rent prices and gentrification, the most vulnerable find themselves teetering on the brink of displacement, their voices drowned out by the clamor of progress. Yet, through policies that prioritize affordable housing and tenant protections, cities can rewrite this narrative, ensuring that every individual has a place to call home, a sanctuary amidst the urban tumult.

Finally, the symphony of urban livability must harmonize with the rhythms of nature, for in the dance of life, humanity is but one partner among many. Green infrastructure solutions, from rain gardens to solar panels, become the instruments through which cities compose a melody of resilience, fortifying themselves against the tempests of climate change and environmental degradation.

In the grand tapestry of urban life, the quest for livability becomes a narrative of hope and possibility, where the challenges of today are but the stepping stones to the cities of tomorrow. Through innovation, collaboration, and a steadfast commitment to equity and sustainability, we can weave a tale of urbanity that transcends the limits of space and time, embracing all who call the city home in its embrace.

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Enhancing Urban Livability: Strategies for Sustainable Quality of Life. (2024, Mar 18). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/enhancing-urban-livability-strategies-for-sustainable-quality-of-life/

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PapersOwl.com. (2024). Enhancing Urban Livability: Strategies for Sustainable Quality of Life . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/enhancing-urban-livability-strategies-for-sustainable-quality-of-life/ [Accessed: 11 Apr. 2024]

"Enhancing Urban Livability: Strategies for Sustainable Quality of Life." PapersOwl.com, Mar 18, 2024. Accessed April 11, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/enhancing-urban-livability-strategies-for-sustainable-quality-of-life/

"Enhancing Urban Livability: Strategies for Sustainable Quality of Life," PapersOwl.com , 18-Mar-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/enhancing-urban-livability-strategies-for-sustainable-quality-of-life/. [Accessed: 11-Apr-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Enhancing Urban Livability: Strategies for Sustainable Quality of Life . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/enhancing-urban-livability-strategies-for-sustainable-quality-of-life/ [Accessed: 11-Apr-2024]

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