19-10-2012, 12:24 PM
Eco-Green City
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Introduction:-
An eco-city or sustainable city is a city designed with consideration of environmental impact, inhabited by people dedicated to minimization of required inputs of energy, water, and food, and waste output of heat, air pollution - CO2, methane, and water pollution. Richard Register first coined the term "eco-city" in his 1987 book, Eco-city Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future.
A sustainable city should meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. A sustainable city should be able to feed itself with minimal reliance on the surrounding countryside, and power itself with renewable sources of energy. The crux of this is to create the smallest possible ecological footprint, and to produce the lowest quantity of pollution possible, to efficiently use land; compost used materials, recycle it or convert waste-to-energy, and thus the city's overall contribution to climate change will be minimal.
It is estimated that over 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities and urban areas. Urban systems can be more environmentally sustainable than rural or suburban living. With people and resource located so close to one another it is possible to save energy and resources.
Practical achievement
These ecological cities are achieved through various means, such as:
Different agricultural systems such as agricultural plots within the city (suburbs or centre). This reduces the distance food has to travel from field to fork.
Renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, solar panels, or biogas created from sewage.
Various methods to reduce the need for air conditioning (a massive energy demand), such as planting trees and lightening surface colors, natural ventilation systems, an increase in water features, and green spaces equaling at least 20% of the city's surface. These measures counter the "heat island effect,” which can make urban areas several degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas—as much as six degrees Celsius during the evening.
Improved public transport and an increase in pedestrianization 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.
Architecture
Buildings provide the infrastructure for a functioning city and allow many opportunities to demonstrate a commitment to sustainability. A commitment to sustainable architecture encompasses all phases of building including the planning, building, and restructuring, and building.
Eco-industrial Park
The purpose of an eco-industrial park is to connect a number of firms and organizations to work together to decrease their environmental impact while simultaneously improving their economic performance. The components for building an eco-industrial park include natural systems, more efficient use of energy, and more material that is efficient and water flows Industrial parks must be built to fit into their natural settings in order to reduce environmental impacts, which can be accomplished through plant design, landscaping, and choice of materials. For instance, there is an industrial park in Michigan built by Phoenix Designs that is made almost entirely from recycled materials. The landscaping of the building will include native trees, grasses, and flowers, and the landscaping design will act as climate shelter for the facility. These building must assess their true impact on the environment and to ensure that they are using from one plant to another, steam connections from firms to provide heating for homes in the area, and using renewable energy such as wind and solar power. To create more efficient water flows in industrial parks, another plant can reuse the processed water from one plant and the parks infrastructure can include a way to collect and reuse storm water runoff.
Urban farming
Urban farming is the process of growing and distributing food, as well as raising animals, in and around a city. There are many motivations behind urban agriculture, but in the context of creating a sustainable city, this method of food cultivation saves energy in food transportation and saves costs. In order for urban farming to be a successful method of sustainable food growth, cities must allot a common area for community gardens or farms, as well as a common area for a farmers market in which the foodstuffs grown within the city which can be sold to the residents of the urban system.
Walk able urbanism
Walk able urbanism is a development strategy in opposition to suburban sprawl. It advocates housing for a diverse population, a full mix of uses, walk able streets, positive public space, integrated civic and commercial centers, transit orientation, and accessible open space. The most clearly defined form of walk able urbanism is known as the Charter of New Urbanism
Individual buildings (LEED)
LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized green building certification system. LEED recognizes whole building sustainable design by identifying key areas of excellence including: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, Locations & Linkages, Awareness and Education, Innovation in Design, Regional Priority. In order for a building to become LEED, certified sustainability needs to be prioritized in design, construction, and use.
Transportation
As major focus of the sustainable cities, sustainable transportation attempts to reduce a city’s reliance and use of greenhouse emitting gases by utilizing eco friendly urban planning, low environmental impact vehicles, to create an urban center that has greater environmental responsibility and social equity.
Currently, transportation systems account for nearly a quarter of the world’s energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission. In order to reduce the environmental impact caused by transportation in metropolitan areas, sustainable transportation has three widely agreed upon pillars that it utilizes to create more healthy and productive urban centers.
Emphasis on proximity
This requires that cities be built and added onto with appropriate population and landmark density so that destinations are reached with reduced time in transit. This reduced time in transit allows for reduced fuel expenditure and opens the door to alternative means of transportation such as bike riding and walking.
Transportation access
In order to maintain the aspect of social responsibility inherent within the concept of sustainable cities, implementing sustainable transportation must include access to transportation by all levels of society. Because car and fuel cost are often too expensive for lower income urban residents, completing this aspect often revolves around efficient and accessible public transportation.
In order to make public transportation more accessible, the cost of rides must be affordable and stations must be located no more than walking distance in each part of the city. As studies have shown, this accessibility creates a great increase in social and productive opportunity for city residents. By this there will be a change in social society.
Urban strategic planning
Although there is not an international policy regarding sustainable cities and there are not established international standards, there is an organization, the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) that is working to establish universal urban strategic guidelines. The UCLC a democratic and decentralized structure that operates in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Europe, Latin America, North America, Middle East, West Asian and a Metropolitan section work to promote a more sustainable society.