How Green Is Your City?
Author/Source: David Biello Main Points:
Authors Main Point:
Inspiring work from around the world that is bringing nature back into our cities: from urban farming initiatives, guerilla gardening, and architectural visions, to furniture, products, and other everyday objects that use plants in a functional or aesthetic way. Some of the included projects are changing the landscapes of our cities as a whole, while others can make our own streets and homes greener—most importantly, all are trying to get people to think differently.
Own Thoughts On the Topic:
An entertaining and socially relevant compilation for everyone who has an interest in a more responsible and environmentally friendly lifestyle. The article shows us how we can care for our planet without falling into hopelessness or dwelling on a bad conscience. For everyone who has an interest in a more responsible and environmentally friendly lifestyle, this entertaining and socially relevant book makes it clear that we can design our urban future in a way that's green, innovative, vibrant, and constructive.
Author/Source: David Biello Main Points:
- Creation of the state-of-the-art eco-city called Dongtan on China's Chongming Island was supposed to be built. It still remains not built
- It was originally slated for completion in 2010 but has not proceeded construction in 2009
- It is one of the numerous planned eco-cities that have fizzled due to the cost
- If eco-cities were successful, the effect on overall energy use and emissions would be minimal, because the vast majority of urbanites would still live in existing cities
- All the reasons suggest that we cannot rely on new construction to address challenges of feeding, housing and transporting urban population in ecologically sound ways
- The solution to the problem needs to take the future into account
- Cities today are greener than suburbs
- Urbanites use less energy and emit less CO per household than suburban counterparts because they live in closer quarters and use public transportation
- Metropolises will not be able to sustain themselves if left to operate on a business as usual basis
- Demand for resources will oustrip supply as number of people inhabiting cities swells from more than three billion to more than six billion by 2050
- New cities could have sustainability built in their infrastructure from the start
- Larger payoffs would come from retrofitting existing cities for sustainability
- Working with existing cities can be less costly than rebuilding cities from scratch. It could save enormous amounts of energy and water
- Instead of spewing 1.7 billion metric tons of CO2 a year, the electric car proposed for Fujisawa City would produce no tailpipe emissions
- Simple changes like converting buses to run on compressed natural gas can clean up the air and improve efficiency
- Cities must not only conserve energy and limit emissions, but also diversify their energy supply
- Ensuring that sustainable supply of freshwater continues to flow in urban populations is another daunting task facing the international community
- Large swathes of the world are pushing limits of water availability
- To help cities conserve, C40( a planning group for 59 major cities engaged in efforts to combat climate change) developed a list of best practices based on case studies of strategies
- Austin, TX offers a number of incentives to curb water use, including rebates for installing rainwater harvesting systems
- Meeting this objective will mean not maintaining the status quo but vastly improving on it
- 1/3 of city dwellers live in the slums, which lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Poor waste management is not just a problem for water quality
- Even better than disposing of waste or recycling it is to make something useful from it
- Cities will need cutting-edge technology to help achieve their long-term sustainability goals
- Policy tweaks and low-tech solutions can play an important role
- The real battle to make existing cities such as NY more sustainable may be won in the minds of superintendents managing the metropolis's one million buildings
- Concepts are spreading worldwide thanks to organizations such as C40
- When cities act, national governments notice
- Cities are an expression of our collective will
- Boosting ability to provide clean energy, transportation, food, water and waste disposal will be key strategies to ensuring a brighter future for mankind
- When it comes to eco-cities, efforts too often prioritize aesthetics over the real-world needs of people
Authors Main Point:
Inspiring work from around the world that is bringing nature back into our cities: from urban farming initiatives, guerilla gardening, and architectural visions, to furniture, products, and other everyday objects that use plants in a functional or aesthetic way. Some of the included projects are changing the landscapes of our cities as a whole, while others can make our own streets and homes greener—most importantly, all are trying to get people to think differently.
Own Thoughts On the Topic:
An entertaining and socially relevant compilation for everyone who has an interest in a more responsible and environmentally friendly lifestyle. The article shows us how we can care for our planet without falling into hopelessness or dwelling on a bad conscience. For everyone who has an interest in a more responsible and environmentally friendly lifestyle, this entertaining and socially relevant book makes it clear that we can design our urban future in a way that's green, innovative, vibrant, and constructive.