Sustainable Cities

If you could pick one sustainable city, where would you like to travel to? Would you pick the chilly and volcanic city of Reykjavík, Iceland, or perhaps you want to be a Super Trouper in ABBA land (Stockholm, Sweden)? Whichever city you may choose, it's important to note that many of the features in these cities will be similar. They all aim to increase sustainability, reduce their ecological footprint, and bring about benefits for their people and the environment. But what exactly is the definition of a sustainable city? What makes sustainable cities? Why are they so beneficial? Read on to find out!

Sustainable cities definition

Cities and urban centres are home to the majority of the world's population. Cities are also growing, as the population increases, and more people migrate to urban centres for better opportunities. However, sadly, cities have incredibly high ecological footprints. Cities use vast amounts of resources, produce equally large amounts of waste, and emit lots of carbon emissions.

So, how do we go about solving this rather big problem? Well, moving towards making cities more sustainable is absolutely vital. But how do we define sustainability? How can we project this onto cities?

Differences between sustainable and smart cities

In geography, both sustainable cities and smart cities may come up a lot! It's important not to confuse the two; they are different.

Sustainable cities are all about operating more sustainably for the future, focussing on the environment. Smart cities, however, try to improve the function of the city with technology, focusing on things like infrastructure management and services.

Features of a sustainable city

All sustainable cities have the same goal; to be more sustainable! This means that many cities actually have similar characteristics and features. Let's example a few.

Green is good! Being more environmentally friendly, (and using the colour green!), is a vital feature of sustainable cities. Let's take a look at green spaces, green infrastructures, and urban agriculture.

Green spaces

Sustainable cities are characterised by their plentiful green spaces. Green spaces are areas in the urban environment that are covered in grass or trees or other kinds of natural vegetation. Places like parks or conservation areas are great examples of this. Green spaces are fantastic for increasing biodiversity in the city, and also reducing dangerous levels of pollution, by absorbing those nasty air pollutants!

Green infrastructure

Green infrastructure includes building design that is environmentally friendly, such as using solar panels or proper insulation systems. Green infrastructure can actually also mean turning buildings green! This can be exampled by green roofs or green walls, which are roofs or walls covered with vegetation.

Fig. 1 - green walls show vegetation covering a building

Urban agriculture

Urban agriculture, or urban farming, is also a really innovative way to create green infrastructure, too. With the increasing population, it will be vital that there is enough food to feed everyone, ensure food security, as well as minimise the negative impacts that food production has on the environment.

Urban agriculture means that food is produced locally, reducing food miles and environmental impact. It can involve things like rooftop farming (growing crops on top of buildings), or vertical gardens. Vertical farming involves producing food in a vertical greenhouse, where crops and plants grow on top of each other on shelves. They use LED lights instead of the sun!

Fig. 2 - vertical farming in Singapore

Alternative transport

Cities are culprits of large carbon emissions and are therefore big contributors to climate change. One important way to reduce carbon emissions is to lower the use of cars and find alternative forms of travel within the city. Encouraging cycling and walking is important; this can be achieved by implementing spaces for bikes and pedestrians, such as specific bike lanes all around the city. Improving public transport is essential too, such as providing alternative transport systems (trams, underground metro systems, buses). Encouraging the use of electric cars is another example, where specific lanes are prioritised for electric cars, and charging points are easily located throughout the city.

Renewable energy

Non-renewable Energy Sources are super unsustainable; they are damaging to the environment, produce great amounts of carbon emissions, and are also not going to last forever. Therefore, moving towards renewable energy is a much more sustainable method. This means moving towards becoming carbon-neutral and using entirely renewable energy, for example, wind and solar farms to produce energy!

Waste management

Cities typically have huge populations. Lots of people result in lots of waste. Sustainable cities are often characterised by recycling programmes or things like recycling and compost laws.

Fig. 3 - separate recycling bins in Singapore

Another method of waste management can include water conservation. This can involve monitoring infrastructure to reduce wastage from leaks, or implementing rainwater harvesting systems, which help to collect rainwater for future use! Making people more aware of saving water, as well as investing in technologies that help to save water, is also a feature.

People

The environment isn't the only thing that encompasses the idea of sustainability. People matter too! Here, we can introduce the concept of liveability.

In sustainable cities, homes are easily affordable, and generally, these cities support the people. They provide funding and access to cultural and community resources, things like public health support or education systems, safety and good quality air and water, for example.

Benefits of sustainable cities

We have just discussed many of the features that make a sustainable city. What exactly are the benefits of these features?

• Sustainable cities are great for the environment; they work towards conserving resources, minimising waste, and reducing carbon emissions.
• Sustainable cities are inclusive for their communities and people; services are accessible, there are good relationships in the community, and safety is high.
• Cities are often home to high levels of poverty and inequality, resource use, pollution, carbon emissions and are worryingly vulnerable to climate disasters; sustainable cities help to tackle these issues.
• The existence of sustainable cities means that the United Nations Sustainable Development goal number 11, can be met; 'Sustainable Cities and Communities' presents the goal to:

Sustainable city examples

There are quite a few sustainable cities around the world, such as Berlin in Germany, Helsinki in Finland, San Francisco in California, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands (just to example a few!).

We're only going to focus on one city, though. Let's take a trip to Copenhagen, in Denmark.

Fig. 4 - Velkommen to Copenhagen!

Copenhagen is top of the list of environmentally friendly cities globally. By 2025, the city aims to be entirely carbon-neutral. Bikes dominate the city, buses are moving to electrical power, and you can even travel by solar-powered boats! Copenhagen is characterised by its green spaces, clean waterways, green infrastructure, recycling systems, and super happy people. Energy is also renewable; Copenhill is a power plant in the city that recycles waste to produce energy to power the city. It also has a ski slope on top of the building! Cool right? Maybe it's time for a visit!