Sustainable_cities

A sustainable city, ecocity or ecopolis is a entire city dedicated to minimizing the required inputs (of energy, water and food) and its waste output (of heat, air pollution as co₂, methane, and water pollution.) Richard Register first coined the term "ecocity" in his 1987 book, Ecocity Berkeley: building cities for a healthy future. Another leading figure who envisioned the sustainable city was architect Paul F. Downton, who later founded the company Ecopolis Architects.

A sustainable city can feed and power itself with minimal reliance on the surrounding countryside, and creates the smallest possible ecological footprint for its residents. This results in a city that is friendly to the surrounding environment, in terms of pollution, land use, and alleviation of global warming. It is estimated that by 2007, over half of the world’s population will live in urban areas and this provides both challenges and opportunities for environmentally-conscious developers.

Practical achievement

These ecological cities are achieved though various means, such as:

• Different agricultural systems such as agricultural plots within the city (suburbs or centre). This, in order to reduce the distance food has to travel from field to fork. Practical work out of this may be done by either small scale/private farming plots or trough larger scale agriculture (eg farmscrapers)
• Renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, solar panels, or bio-gas created from sewage. Cities provide economies of scale that make such energy sources viable.
• Various methods to reduce the need for air conditioning (a massive energy demand), such as low lying buildings that allow air to circulate, natural ventilation systems, an increase in water features, and green spaces equaling at least 20% of the city\'s surface. This counters the environmental heating caused by factors such as an abundance of tarmac and asphalt, which can heat city areas by up to 6 degrees Celsius during the evening.
• Improved public transport and an increase in pedestrianisation to reduce car emissions. This requires a radically different approach to city planning, with integrated business, industrial, and residential zones. Roads may be designed to make driving difficult.
• Optimal building density to make public transport viable but avoid the creation of urban heat islands.
• Solutions to decrease urban sprawl, by seeking new ways of to allow people to live closer to the workspace.^{[citation needed]} Since the workplace tends to be in the city, downtown, or urban center, they are seeking a way to increase density by changing the antiquated attitudes many suburbanites have towards inner-city areas.^{[citation needed]} One of the new ways is on how this is achieved is by solutions worked out by the Smart Growth Movement.^{[citation needed]}
• green roofs
• green transport
• sustainable urban drainage systems or SUDS
• energy conservation systems/devices
• xeriscaping - garden and landscape design for water conservation

References

External links

• Ecocity Summit 2008, April 22-26, San Francisco, California.
• Which way China?Herbert Girardet, 2006 October 2nd, chinadialogue. Discusses the emergences of ecocities in China.
• eco-friendly homes gaining popularity in india
• Los Angeles: A History of the Future
• Zonneterp-project (eco-neighbourhood)
• Sustainable cities information
• Transition Towns, a organisation building sustainable cities

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