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Page added on May 11, 2016
Can Cities Be Sustainable?
In a rapidly urbanizing world, cities have become a hot spot for climate action. As urban communities expand, urban planners must increasingly play the role of climate change problem solvers, experts said yesterday.
Currently, more than 3.5 billion people live in cities, according to the World Bank. That number is expected to reach 5 billion by 2030, with two-thirds of the global population living in cities.
The adverse health and environmental effects of urban sprawl will become even more pressing as urban populations grow and their greenhouse gas emissions increase, researchers say. In response, cities need to become more vigilant.
“Sustainable cities will set important limits—so, for example, we’re not going to use fossil fuels in an unlimited kind of way,” Gary Gardner, director of publications at the Worldwatch Institute, said at a panel discussion the environmental think tank hosted yesterday.
Cities are often the drivers of climate change, but they are also its victims and potential remediators, said Tom Prugh, senior researcher at Worldwatch.
As it expands, the city becomes a driver and urban sprawl eats up forested lands. That in turn leads to deforestation, which accounts for roughly 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
In its position as victim, the city succumbs to climate-caused disasters, he said, pointing to the devastation in New York City caused by Superstorm Sandy. Eight of 10 of the biggest cities lie on coasts, making them especially vulnerable to rising sea levels, said Prugh.
“We have a long, tough climb ahead” when it comes to making cities more sustainable, Prugh said.
But developing cities have a big say in their own shape and environmental stance, as well as their CO2 output, said Michael Renner, Prugh’s colleague at Worldwatch. Much of this, he said, comes down to their layout.
For instance, Atlanta and Barcelona, Spain, are similar in size, with roughly 5 million people each. But they are vastly different in how far each city sprawls—and how much gasoline residents use to get around. That usage makes a marked difference in emissions.
In the United States and Canada, sprawl is among planners’ fundamental challenges. It encourages high energy use and dependence on automobiles, experts said.
Some cities, like Aspen, Colo.—which gets 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources—have achieved success in their greening efforts. The next step lies not in buildings, experts said, but in people.
But a sustainable city is also a socially inclusive one. In other words, ensuring a city is green means making sure all of its inhabitants have access to items like efficient appliances and clean energy, Renner said.
“Green” can’t just be a status symbol, he said.
“Social inclusion is a must,” Renner said. “This has to work for everyone, otherwise it’s just not enough.
12 Comments on "Can Cities Be Sustainable?"
Kenz300 on Wed, 11th May 2016 10:46 am
Climate Change is real ….it will impact all of us
The transition away from fossil fuels continues around the world……
Britain Gets No Power From Coal for First Time Ever, UK EV Drivers Soon to Sell Electricity Back to Grid
http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/11/britain-no-coal/
Davy on Wed, 11th May 2016 12:12 pm
There is no saving any cities above their population’s pre-fossil fuels because that is where we are heading. You then need to give them a climate change penalty and an adverse development charge off. In general cities over 500,000 are doomed even in the start of this process. Do the research for your region. What did it once support then take your current population and divide it by pi. Take the lessor of the two. You may laugh and think me crazy but the point is huge reductions in urbanization are going to happen and soon the size of which is difficult to calculate. 2030 is around the time massive urban depopulation migrations are going to happen. Get out while you still can. That does not mean the rural areas are safe but at least you may not have to move. If you are in the cities you will likely become a migrant.
Apneaman on Wed, 11th May 2016 1:17 pm
Make America Great Again
“The economy resembles the cellular cooperation that occurs within an organism with metabolic products, oxygen, nutrients and wastes moving along numerous distribution channels, the entire operation supported by the primary production or predatory abilities of the system. Nationalism or tribalism is the mechanism by which cooperation is enabled. Imagine each cell in your body inscribed with a surface marker “pledge of allegiance” allowing the immune system to differentiate self from non-self. Likewise, shared identity and/or language in nations seem to provide a cohesiveness. But what happens one system (technology) emerges from the another system (ecosystem) and begins to grow exponentially using the parent system as fodder for it’s growth? The RNA within the technological system are wholly involved in their competitions with other technological entities and seem oblivious unconcerned with the destruction of the ecosystem to which they actually belong.”
http://megacancer.com/2016/05/11/make-america-great-again/
dave thompson on Wed, 11th May 2016 2:12 pm
Scientific America is playing the media shill to the masses in this BS article.
Apneaman on Wed, 11th May 2016 2:38 pm
“Some cities, like Aspen, Colo.—which gets 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources—have achieved success in their greening efforts.”
What’s their per capita income compared to the rest of the planet?
makati1 on Wed, 11th May 2016 6:44 pm
“Can Cities Be Sustainable?”
ROFLMAO!
Cities are not even “maintainable” now. How can they be “sustainable” when the SHTF and everything stops? Answer: They cannot. Three days and the store food shelves will be bare, and that is IF the water and electric don’t go down that first day. If it does, it is game over that day and you better be on your way out, on foot if necessary. If you live in or near one now, you better be ready to bail at the first warning of collapse because the way out will be more and more difficult after the event, if even possible.
Scientific American, a once reputable magazine, is a joke these days. It’s ALL about money and it seems that unicorn farming is becoming popular in these trying days. I will say that it does point out the massive problems, but it still holds out hope, “if we can…”.
““Social inclusion is a must,” Renner said. “This has to work for everyone, otherwise it’s just not enough.”
Sissyfuss on Wed, 11th May 2016 10:59 pm
The term “sustainable cities” should trigger an oxymoron alert every time. Oh, and Apey, the subliminal message proffered by Trump actually reads”Make America White Again!”
GregT on Wed, 11th May 2016 11:45 pm
“We have a long, tough climb ahead” when it comes to making cities more sustainable, Prugh said.”
There is no such thing as ‘more sustainable’. Something is either sustainable, or it is not. Cities are not sustainable, period.
onlooker on Thu, 12th May 2016 5:47 am
I would go so far as to say Civilization as we humans define it is unsustainable. Mass consumerism and other corollary practices have proven to be utterly unsustainable. So the reality and perception of civilization would have to change dramatically if ever humans were to live in a “civilized” community. I would prefer to always refer to the conglomeration of humans as a Community rather than civilization. It to me denotes a kinder gentler and more sage manner of living.
Dredd on Thu, 12th May 2016 7:08 am
“Can Cities Be Sustainable?”
Only if seaports are sustainable (The Extinction of Robust Sea Ports, 2, 3).
Dredd on Thu, 12th May 2016 7:13 am
onlooker on Thu, 12th May 2016 5:47 am
I would go so far as to say Civilization as we humans define it is unsustainable.
=======================
That would be a first, according to the once-most-quoted historian:
“In other words, a society does not ever die ‘from natural causes’, but always dies from suicide or murder — and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown.”
(Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch, quoting Arnold J. Toynbee).
penury on Thu, 12th May 2016 8:54 am
Perhaps Cities are sustainable if you constantly can change and reduce what sustainable means. The slums of Rio and New Deli are sustainable, but is human life sustainable within the cities?