cities and urban sustainability
TRANSCRIPT
What is a sustainable city?
• Environment?• Economic?• Social?
• Brainstorm topics!
• (my ideal city)
The city as a system
• What is a system?• In its basic meaning a system consists of
inputs, processes and outputs
What do you think we mean by inputs and outputs?
• Inputs• Food• Energy• Goods• Materials• Water• People
• = resources
• Outputs• Waste =• Solid• Liquid• Atmospheric• Noise• People
• = garbage and pollution
The linear city
The linear metabolism city is the traditional way that cities have always functioned. Inputs go in, are used and the result is outputs in the form of waste
The circular metabolism cityIn this model, applied for sustainable development, processes involve recycling, resource management and technology to reduce resource consumption. This reduces both inputs and outputs placing less strain on the environment and thus on the urban population
Environment
• Energy consumption• Water: consumption, polution• Waste: removal, recycling, restricting• Air: quality, movement, temperature• Natural environment and habitats
The environmental dilemma
• Cities in MEDCs have met:– Most social and economic goals for sus.dev.– But draw heavily on enviromental capital (wealth =
consumption)• Cities in LEDCs have not met:– Most social or economic goals– But do not draw greatly on environmental capital
Environment and Urbanisation, Vol. 4, No. 2 October 1992
The Urban Ecological Footprint• What is an ecological footprint?• It is a measurement of how
much land, water and natural resources a person, city, country or humanity as a whole requires to produce the resources it consumes and to dispose of its waste
Read more: The Definition of Ecological Footprints | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5090820_definition-ecological-footprints.html#ixzz0x8GoHoDt
Remember...
• An ecolocical footprint (thus an urban ecological footprint) is composed of
• All the resources required to sustain a population
• Food• Water• energy
Social sustainability – urban sustainability
General social aspects• Equity• Advocacy • Ethics • Human rights
Urban aspects• Participation• Integration• Opportunity
Generally we can say that social sustainability and especially urban social sustainability has challanging social exclusion as its target
Social exclusion
• Breaking down barriers that create social exclusion:– Social barriers– Political barrriers– Economic barriers
• These barriers create– Material poverty– Segregation– isolation
Views on development
• Traditional:– Emphasis on poverty and unequal distribution of
resources– Still relevant in poorest states (think Maslow)
• Social:– Unequal participation– Poor social integration– Discrepancies in power
Urban sustainability topics
• ownership: how land and property is owned (tenure),• Providing housing and education• Planning and maintaining assets – social and physical• Social networks • Transport and communications• IT• Leisure; sports, stadiums, the 24 hour city• Regeneration
The Egan
Wheel
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmcomloc/1014/1014we16.htm
Housing issues
• Neighbourhood effect – good or bad?• Housing mix - ownership• Maintainence and development - assets
http://www.statistikomstockholm.se/images/statistik_pa_karta/2012/andel_lgh_i_br_std.png
http://www.statistikomstockholm.se/images/statistik_pa_karta/2013/F%C3%B6r%C3%A4ndring%202004-2013%20av%20l%C3%A4genhetsbest%C3%A5ndet%20och%20antal%20l%C3%A4genheter%202013.png
Maintaining assets
• Assets may be physical or social• Physical assets:– buildings, open spaces, roads and other
infrastructure• Social assets:– Social capital, socially bonded groups,
Physical assets
• Where are we? Developing or developed settlements?– Level and source of technology/materials– Who owns/provides buildings?– Are buildings used as planned? If not, why?– Who has decided changes?– Can local skills be used?– Who makes planning decisions?– Is the decision voluntary (desired change), or forced (repair
is necessary)?– Who’s interests do changes serve?
Social assets and physical planning
• Do social groups exist?• Are they homogenous or stratified?– Are there habits within groups that need to change?– Do social groups exhibit antisocial behaviour?– To what extent can change lead to sustainable
behaviour?• Do institutional or organisational frameworks
sustain, prevent, facilitate or limit social bonded groups?