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| 18.02.2008 | ||
What makes cities most liveable? Cities of the future should provide space for comfortable conditions for as much people as possible and for a long time. Therefore we should not forget to suggest Environmental Conditions and Sustainability in our PerfectCity Charter. Especially after hearing about resources dwindling every day, sustainable city planning is becoming a vital asset to our survival.
When we talk about environmental conditions and sustainability we think of the following:
- Environmental conditions: These are all external aspects with which we as individuals interact.
- Sustainability: This is the attempt to keep various aspects in check when balanced work in our favour
Keeping those aspects in balance is a win-win-situation for both the environment and us as a people. Sustainable development is the "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (Rees, William E. and Roseland, Mark. 1991. Sustainable Communities: Planning for the 21st Century)
To accomplish this we think the following factors are a good basis to build upon:
- Energy conservation systems
- Waste management / Recycling
- Air and Water quality
- Green construction and buildings
- Green space (parks, plants, gardens)
- Energy efficiency and production (renewable energy sources)
- Green public transportation/ Car free city (Is that possible?)
- Xeriscaping (landscape design for water conservation)
What do you think about these factors? Do you see opportunities to build clusters? Is something missing or redundant? Which factors would you put up for voting in a poll? Please take a minute and lets us know what you are thinking.
We look forward to your comments and ideas!
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Your list emphasizes conservation, which is very important, but not the complete picture. In fact sustainablity is acheived by increasing efficiency and also productivity. For example, we limit the productivity of land when we focus of xeriscaping (conserving water); we shoud also consider the ability of the land to produce food.
Also, organize your factors according to the greatest effect. For example; a car free city achieve the most towards achieving sustainablity. Green construction will have the second greatest effect. Clean energy production and energy conservation will produce the next greatest positive effect. Waste management, next. Green space and xeriscaping have only a small effect.
“Air and Water quality” does not belong on this list. This is a goal, not a solution. Also, as a goal we should also consider clean land. A number of contaminates that end up in our food are derived from polluted land.
Sunnydan
Hi Dan, thanks for your comment. You are right about the water/air quality being a goal, not a solution. We tried to list the factors of a sustainable city and thought that clean air and water as the ultimate goal belongs in that list. But you are right in saying that among all the means of achieving this it’s maybe not good to list it there. If we’d exchange it with “Increase productivity (of the land)” would you say it fits the overall picture better?
As for your remark concerning the organisation of the factors in that list: We tried to not emphasize on single factors as this list should end up being a poll and we’d like for that poll to as open as possible. So we tried to avoid pre-weighting those factors.
PerfectCity Team