15.11.1 What are sustainable cities and why are they needed? With more people living in cities and the threats of climate change, cities need to be more sustainable to meet current and future needs. This is part of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 : making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. A sustainable city or eco-city aims to reduce its environmental impact by using less energy and water, producing less waste, and cutting down on air and water pollution. Cities face problems like inadequate housing, urban sprawl and pollution. Solutions work best when:
• governments, communities and citizens share responsibility • communities are involved in projects and decision-making. 15.11.2 What makes a sustainable city?
In 2024, Arcadis, a Dutch firm that measures sustainability globally, conducted a study to measure the sustainability of the world’s top 100 cities. Four Australian cities rated in the top 100: Perth (25), Melbourne (32), Sydney (33) and Brisbane (38). The indicators measured by the following criteria: • Planet (environmental factors) — air quality, waste management , water, greenhouse gas emissions, green policy and biodiversity • Profit (business environment factors) — affordability, city connectivity and congestion and living standards • People (social factors) — livability, access to education, public transport • Progress (measures progress made over the last decade) — public participation, government policies, indicators of improvement • FIGURE1 highlights some of the key features of a sustainable city. 15.11.3 What actions are involved in developing sustainable cities? Urban planners and governments can take a number of targeted actions in order to make their cities more sustainable. Some of these actions are outlined in TABLE1 .
TABLE1 Targeted actions to make cities more sustainable Key feature Targeted actions Conservation of water
• Capture and use of stormwater • Monitoring of infrastructure for leaks • Treatment and reuse of waste water • Incentives for saving water for businesses and individuals • Recycling programs • Composting programs • Repurposing of materials such as building waste • Generating heat from waste incineration (burning waste) • Using sustainable and/or recycled building materials • Improving insulation and ventilation for natural heating and cooling • Incorporating renewable energy sources, e.g. solar panels
Improved waste management
Use of green architecture
• Establishment of community gardens • Encouraging schools and restaurants to grow food • Creating vertical and rooftop gardens
Urban farming
470 Jacaranda Humanities Alive 8 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator