Urban sustainability as a new reality...

There is a lot of research being published these days on sustainable and green cities. In a previous blog entry, I wrote about the city of Curitiba, located in Southern Brazil. A city that has made outstanding progress on incorporating urban sustainability policies into planning the city. Urban sustainability focuses on how cities can work towards innovative policies that place the environment first on its priority list. It means that environmental governance is primarily administered at the local level. Why is this even important? Well we are facing a real urban challenge not only in North American but all over the world. The UN estimates that by 2019, 50% of the world's population will be living in urban areas. Cities will have to work towards sustainable development. And by the way, Mexico City, population 8.8 million, is not a good example of urban sustainability as the city has exhausted its main water aquifer in which millions depend on for basic water supply. Cities have numerous impacts on the environment including producing CO2 emissions in abundance. Degrading water fronts through effluents loads, sewage dumping and the formation of pernicious pollutants are just a few examples.

What can we do? I am sure numerous urban economists, planners and civil engineers have ideas but I will share a few based on the research I have done thus far.

1) let's start understanding the direct impacts urban areas have on the environment. Land use and transport planning can allow us to do this. Local transport plans (LTPs) are popular in Europe and include the city designing plans to reduce the forecast growth of C02 emissions from transport. They evaluate the impacts of things like expressways versus subways. They analyze the two from a cost-benefit analysis based on density patterns, usage, and aggregate materials i.e. how many resources are needed to construct it. And finally measure the environmental impacts.

2) Energy conservation design. Include passive solar energy in the design of new developments. Energy conservation standards would help too. Local legislation or bylaws can stipulate that certain buildings must have energy efficiency in their design.

3) Promote mixed land use development where you increase housing densities. Remember, the more dense a city is like London or Hong Kong, the less reliant its citizens are on petroleum usage which can reduce the impact on the environment by reducing travel-for-work distances into the city.

Multilevel governance for urban sustainability is critical, but let the local (city) carry out the initiatives. Urban sustainability is a process that requires partnerships and participation through the regeneration of development projects that prioritize sustainability. Just some thoughts.