Cities in America have been built the wrong way since the 1950s. Urban sprawl has had a very negative effect on the growth of cities by increasing the distance to the Central Business District to the suburbs. This forces workers in the Central Business District who live further away in the suburbs to have to make a commute every day to they're job, creating pollution from traffic and devouring energy. In order for cities to become more sustainable, there is a lot to be done. The most important component of creating a more sustainable city is smart growth, the opposite of urban sprawl, and also making cities greener at the same time by using different techniques to fit more people and improve efficiency.
According to William E. Rees in his article titled "Building More Sustainable Cities" cities can increase urban efficiency by following these extremely effective characteristics:
- An increase of multiple-family housing, which reduces land uses, infrastructure and everything else about a city
- More opportunities for recycling, reuse and remanufacturing of materials, along with the workforce for those activities.
- Car-free mobility, through investments that make walking, public transportation and cycling available.
- Generate electricity and use of industrial waste heat together to reduce energy consumption.
- Improve the city environment with cleaner air, easy access to amenities, and a greater proximity of shopping and business.
A city's environment is a very important factor to its sustainability. A green city must run on clean energy and use less energy. Electric energy can be produced cleanly by using renewable resources such as wind, solar, and nuclear energy, all of which can be incorporated within, or in the close outskirts of the city. This can ensure that less pollution is occurring due to emissions from cars. Car emissions are a crucial contributor to pollution in cities, and workers commute from the suburbs is a big part of the buildup of carbon monoxide released from the cars. Another way to help decrease pollution is access to public transportation. If money is invested in transits to take people across town or from place to place, lots of pollution from cars will be avoided thus creating a more appealing atmosphere. Stores, restaurants, and public services must be in walking distance from living areas such as condos and apartments. If people are able to walk to their locations without traveling very far, they will save money while still circulating the economy, bettering the community. The driving force in all of these things must be the city government. Efforts should be made to make the city greener, and the citizens must be able to join in and help the community become a greener and more efficient place to live, a place where they can be happy to belong to. | |
A very effective way to help increase the sustainability of a city is to incorporate shared transportation vehicles such as bikes and city cars. The purpose of these vehicles is to get a person from one point of the city to the next in the most efficient and energy saving way as possible. City cars run on electric power and are very small, so they could be easily put in a parking garage, and lots could fit in the same area together. These cars do not let off any harmful emissions and are extremely practical and safe. They are perfect for a worker to get from their place of residence to their place of employment in a effective way, improving the quality of living and the distance between places, while still ensuring the safety of the environment.
Shared bikes serve the same, but also another purpose for the city. A worker could ride a bike to their place of work, just as the City car works, but the bikes can also be used for tourism. Tourists may want to see as much of the city as they can, and riding in a car would not give you the feel of the atmosphere and community, and walking would limit you to only certain parts, but bike riding is the perfect way to tour a city. Over five-hundred cities have already adapted to this wonderful idea, and many are catching on each year. It is a very effective way to increase the sustainability of a city, and it has been proven.
Citiations:
Larson, Kent. "Brilliant Designs to Fit More People in Every City." Ted.com. Kent Larson, June 2012. Web. 29 May 2014. <http://www.ted.com/talks/kent_larson_brilliant_designs_to_fit_more_people_in_every_city>
Rees, William E. "Building More Sustainable Cities." Scientific American Global RSS. ScientificAmerican.com, 1 Mar. 2009. Web. 28 May 2014. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/building-more-sustainable-cities/>
Jamieson, Mariah. "How Do Cities Become Green? 10 Best Practices of Green Cities." Schneider Electric Blog. Schneider-Electric.com, 22 May 2013. Web. 29 May 2014. <http://blog.schneider-electric.com/energy-management-energy-efficiency/2013/05/22/how-do-cities-become-green-10-best-practices-of-green-cities/>
Pictures-
- http://www.ctitestchicago.com/images/ChicagoSkyline.jpg
- http://bytelib.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/green_city.jpg
- http://i2.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2014/04/wind-turbines17.jpg
- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Melbourne_City_Bikes.JPG
The connects to APHG chapter 13 because it is dealing with Urban areas and how they work. This topic focuses on smart growth, and sustainability, counteracting urban sprawl. It also has to do with suburbanization and how cities must become denser in order to be more efficient.
I chose this topic because I enjoyed the unit about urban systems and I especially enjoyed the TED talk about 'Brilliant Designs to Fit More People Into Cities' which was what I found most interesting about sustainability of cities.
I chose this topic because I enjoyed the unit about urban systems and I especially enjoyed the TED talk about 'Brilliant Designs to Fit More People Into Cities' which was what I found most interesting about sustainability of cities.