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• What Makes a City Sustainable ?

• 
  Rabia Rahimbayeva    Group moderator   Ambassador

  The company name is only visible to registered members.

  What Makes a City Sustainable ?

  Sustainability looks simple if you’re starting from scratch. Take Masdar – the oil-financed, solar-driven city rising from the sands of Abu Dhabi, designed from the outset as a modern urban oasis of low-carbon living. Simple – but far from easy. Meeting the energy needs of a modern metropolis without fossil fuels requires technological and design innovation on an unprecedented scale, not to mention minimising the footprint of its food sourcing, water and materials consumption and waste disposal.
  
  And that’s before you tackle such thorny issues as creating a viable local economy, high standard housing, meeting the health, social and educational needs of the population, protecting local species and wildlife habitat…
  
  Small wonder, perhaps, that some grandiose plans for sustainable cities – from Dongtan in China to the UK’s eco-towns – remain stuck on the drawing board.
  
  Half of humanity, however, already lives in our existing, chronically unsustainable cities. Here, the vital shift towards sustainability is less an issue of clean sheet planning, more a matter of real world wrestling with manifest mess. And progress comes in (often modest) increments. It’s about cutting carbon emissions, improving air and water quality, shifting to renewable energy, boosting green business, growing more local food, reducing waste, providing sufficient and efficient housing, green space, good public transport and access to services. For the inhabitants, sustainability is reflected in their prospects for growing up, working, living, raising families, and having a real voice in the running of their cities and wider city regions. And, for local government, it’s about delivery, accountability – and leadership.
  
  SO WHAT WOULD SUCCESS LOOK LIKE AND WHERE ARE THE SHINING EXAMPLES?
  
  * Curitiba in Brazil is one, so often cited that you’d think it was Eldorado. Its streets aren’t actually paved with gold, but decades of visionary leadership has helped build the sense that they truly belong to their two million inhabitants. What started with one pedestrian area in 1972 progressively spawned a mass of people-friendly neighbourhood projects, linked up in a city-wide model of participatory planning. Then there’s the Colombian capital, Bogotá, where the now famous busway and bicycling network has been a driving force in transforming not just transport but health and access to work and services too.
  
  * Portland in Oregon would be on most ‘green city’ lists. It regularly tops the rankings of US cities produced by SustainLane, the self-styled web-based ‘people powered sustainability guide’. Portland got the jump on other US cities, says SustainLane founder James Elsen, by planning since the ’70s to put sustainability at the heart of its development. Localism, public transport and cycling are all big themes there too, in line with mayor Tom Potter’s vision of a ’20 minute city’ with everything accessible inside that time.
  
  * Western Europe has its own A-list of urban best practice, on a circuit stretching from Spain across to Germany and Austria and up to Scandinavia. Stockholm, for instance, is a favourite destination for delegations seeking the keys to the sustainable city. And Sweden boasts an even brighter nugget of sustainability in Växjö, the university city amid its southern forests, where the burning of biomass is so well built in that over half of all its energy needs are being met from renewable sources. That’s not a target; it’s a fact on the ground.
  
  Size matters, of course. Megacities face special challenges. Sustainable city exemplars tend to be more modest sized. Only Växjö, however, comes in under Aristotle’s ceiling for the well-governed polis – a maximum population of 100,000. Which, intriguingly, was the size envisaged for Dongtan…
  
  And what for Izmir? Which factors could and should be used here to make Izmir a sustainable city?
  
  
  all the best,
  Rabia Rahimbayeva.
  
  • 13 Nov 2008, 08:31 am
  Rabia Rahimbayeva wrote: > Sustainability looks simple if you’re starting from scratch. Take > Masdar – the oil-financed, solar-driven city rising from the sands of > Abu Dhabi, designed from the outset as a modern urban oasis of > low-carbon living. Simple – but far from easy. Meeting the energy > needs of a modern metropolis without fossil fuels requires > technological and design innovation on an unprecedented scale, not to > mention minimising the footprint of its food sourcing, water and > materials consumption and waste disposal. > > And that’s before you tackle such thorny issues as creating a viable > local economy, high standard housing, meeting the health, social and > educational needs of the population, protecting local species and > wildlife habitat… > > Small wonder, perhaps, that some grandiose plans for sustainable > cities – from Dongtan in China to the UK’s eco-towns – remain stuck > on the drawing board. > > Half of humanity, however, already lives in our existing, chronically > unsustainable cities. Here, the vital shift towards sustainability is > less an issue of clean sheet planning, more a matter of real world > wrestling with manifest mess. And progress comes in (often modest) > increments. It’s about cutting carbon emissions, improving air and > water quality, shifting to renewable energy, boosting green business, > growing more local food, reducing waste, providing sufficient and > efficient housing, green space, good public transport and access to > services. For the inhabitants, sustainability is reflected in their > prospects for growing up, working, living, raising families, and > having a real voice in the running of their cities and wider city > regions. And, for local government, it’s about delivery, > accountability – and leadership. > > SO WHAT WOULD SUCCESS LOOK LIKE AND WHERE ARE THE SHINING EXAMPLES? > > * Curitiba in Brazil is one, so often cited that you’d think it was > Eldorado. Its streets aren’t actually paved with gold, but decades of > visionary leadership has helped build the sense that they truly > belong to their two million inhabitants. What started with one > pedestrian area in 1972 progressively spawned a mass of > people-friendly neighbourhood projects, linked up in a city-wide > model of participatory planning. Then there’s the Colombian capital, > Bogotá, where the now famous busway and bicycling network has been a > driving force in transforming not just transport but health and > access to work and services too. > > * Portland in Oregon would be on most ‘green city’ lists. It > regularly tops the rankings of US cities produced by SustainLane, the > self-styled web-based ‘people powered sustainability guide’. Portland > got the jump on other US cities, says SustainLane founder James > Elsen, by planning since the ’70s to put sustainability at the heart > of its development. Localism, public transport and cycling are all > big themes there too, in line with mayor Tom Potter’s vision of a ’20 > minute city’ with everything accessible inside that time. > > * Western Europe has its own A-list of urban best practice, on a > circuit stretching from Spain across to Germany and Austria and up to > Scandinavia. Stockholm, for instance, is a favourite destination for > delegations seeking the keys to the sustainable city. And Sweden > boasts an even brighter nugget of sustainability in Växjö, the > university city amid its southern forests, where the burning of > biomass is so well built in that over half of all its energy needs > are being met from renewable sources. That’s not a target; it’s a > fact on the ground. > > Size matters, of course. Megacities face special challenges. > Sustainable city exemplars tend to be more modest sized. Only Växjö, > however, comes in under Aristotle’s ceiling for the well-governed > polis – a maximum population of 100,000. Which, intriguingly, was the > size envisaged for Dongtan… > > And what for Izmir? Which factors could and should be used here to > make Izmir a sustainable city? > > > all the best, > Rabia Rahimbayeva.