what are five responses to urban sustainability challenges?

Cities that are serious about sustainability will seek to minimize their negative environmental impacts across all scales from local to global. Finally, the redevelopment of brownfields, former industrial areas that have been abandoned, can be an efficient way of re-purposing infrastructure. How can sanitation be a challenge to urban sustainability? Climate change overall threatens cities and their built infrastructure. Instead they provide a safe space for innovation, growth, and development in the pursuit of human prosperity in an increasingly populated and wealthy world (Rockstrm et al., 2013). Community engagement will help inform a multiscale vision and strategy for improving human well-being through an environmental, economic, and social equity lens. How many goods are imported into and exported from a city is not known in practically any U.S. city. True or false? The DPSIR framework describes the interactions between society and the environment, the key components of which are driving forces (D), pressures (P) on the environment and, as a result, the states (S) of environmental changes, their impacts (I) on ecosystems, human health, and other factors, and societal responses (R) to the driving forces, or directly to the pressure, state, or impacts through preventive, adaptive, or curative solutions. Low density (suburban sprawl) is correlated with high car use. Waste management systems have the task of managing current and projected waste processing. For a renewable resourcesoil, water, forest, fishthe sustainable rate of use can be no greater than the rate of regeneration of its source. Thus, some strategies to manage communal resources, such as community-based, bottom-up approaches examined by Ostrom (2009a), may be more difficult to obtain in urban settings. Big Idea 2: IMP - How are the attitudes, values, and balance of power of a population reflected in the built landscape? 3, Industrial Pollution in Russia (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Industry_in_Russia.jpg), by Alt-n-Anela (https://www.flickr.com/people/47539533@N05), licensed by CC-BY-2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en), Fig. Principle 3: Urban inequality undermines sustainability efforts. All different types of waste must be properly managed in cities. Urban sustainability therefore requires horizontal and vertical integration across multiple levels of governance, guided by four principles: the planet has biophysical limits, human and natural systems are tightly intertwined and come together in cities, urban inequality undermines sustainability efforts, and cities are highly interconnected. City leaders must move quickly to plan for growth and provide the basic services, infrastructure, and affordable housing their expanding populations need. Often a constraint may result in opportunities in other dimensions, with an example provided by Chay and Greenstone (2003) on the impact of the Clean Air Act amendments on polluting plants from 1972 and 1987. In order for urban places to be sustainable from economic, environmental, and equity perspectives, pathways to sustainability require a systemic approach around three considerations: scale, allocation, and distribution (Daly, 1992). What are some anthropogenic causes of air pollution? Urban Sustainability Indicators, Challenges and Opportunities These goals generally include attracting new investment, improving social conditions (and reducing social problems), ensuring basic services and adequate housing, and (more recently) raising environmental standards within their jurisdiction. These same patterns of inequality also exist between regions and states with poor but resource-rich areas bearing the cost of the resource curse (see also Box 3-3). This study provides direct and easily interpreted estimates of the air quality and infant health benefits of the 1970 Act. How can greenbelts respond tourban sustainability challenges? Thinking about cities as closed systems that require self-sustaining resource independence ignores the concepts of comparative advantage or the benefits of trade and economies of scale. Book Description This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. How can climate change be a challenge to urban sustainability? Given the uneven success of the Millennium Development Goals, and the unprecedented inclusion of the urban in the SDG process, the feasibility of SDG 11 was assessed in advance of . 11: 6486 . There are many policy options that can affect urban activities such that they become active and positive forces in sustainably managing the planets resources. High amounts of nutrients that lead to an algal bloom and prevents oxygen and light from entering the water. . Name three countries with high air quality. Here it is important to consider not only the impact on land-based resources but also water and energy that are embodied in products such as clothing and food. Nothing can go wrong! For example, as discussed by Bai (2007), at least two important institutional factors arise in addressing GHG emission in cities: The first is the vertical jurisdictional divide between different governmental levels; the second is the relations between the local government and key industries and other stakeholders. Sustaining natural resources in the face of climate change and anthropogenic pressures is increasingly becoming a challenge in Africa [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ]. This helps to facilitate the engagement, buy-in, and support needed to implement these strategies. 3 Clark, C. M. 2015. However, air quality and water resources can be protected through proper quality management and government policy. Create and find flashcards in record time. According to the definition by Gurr and King (1987), the first relates to vertical autonomy, which is a function of the citys relationship with senior-level government. Frontiers | Grand Challenges in Sustainable Cities and Health Ultimately, given its U.S. focus and limited scope, this report does not fully address the notion of global flows. This paper focuses on adaptive actions in response to WEF challenges as well as the environmental implications of these responses in Harare, Zimbabwe. Much of the current information on urban areas is about stocks or snapshots of current conditions of a single place or location. A practitioner could complement the adopted standard(s) with additional indicators unique to the citys context as necessary. This common approach can be illustrated in the case of urban food scraps collection where many cities first provided in-kind support to individuals and community groups offering collection infrastructure and services, then rolled out programs to support social norming in communities (e.g., physical, visible, green bins for residents to be put out at the curb), and finally banned organics from landfills, providing a regulatory mechanism to require laggards to act. Fig. This type of information is critically important to develop new analyses to characterize and monitor urban sustainability, especially given the links between urban places with global hinterlands. Urban Development Overview - World Bank The majority of natural resources in the world are consumed in cities. Cities with a high number of these facilities are linked with poorer air quality, water contamination, and poor soil health. Urban sustainability goals often require behavior change, and the exact strategies for facilitating that change, whether through regulation or economic policies, require careful thought. Institutional scale plays an important role in how global issues can be addressed. More than half the worlds population lives in urban areas, with the U.S. percentage at 80 percent. ir quality and water resources can be protected through proper quality management and government policy. It must be recognized that ultimately all sustainability is limited by biophysical limits and finite resources at the global scale (e.g., Burger et al., 2012; Rees, 2012).A city or region cannot be sustainable if its principles and actions toward its own, local-level sustainability do not scale up to sustainability globally. Another approach is for government intervention through regulation of activities or the resource base. It will require recognition of the biophysical and thermodynamic aspects of sustainability. Sign up to highlight and take notes. In particular, the institutional dimension plays an important role in how global issues are addressed, as discussed by Gurr and King (1987), who identified the need to coordinate two levels of action: the first relates to vertical autonomythe citys relationship with federal administrationand the second relates to the horizontal autonomya function of the citys relationship with local economic and social groups that the city depends on for its financial and political support. Have all your study materials in one place. Getting an accurate picture of the environmental impacts of all human activity, including that of people working in the private sector, is almost impossible. Fresh-water rivers and lakes which are replenished by glaciers will have an altered timing of replenishment; there may be more water in the spring and less in the summer. The ecological footprint of cities is measured by the number of people in a city and how much they're consuming. City-regional environmental problems such as ambient air pollution, inadequate waste management and pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal areas. 1 Planetary boundaries define, as it were, the boundaries of the planetary playing field for humanity if we want to be sure of avoiding major human-induced environmental change on a global scale (Rockstrm et al., 2009). Currently, many cities have sustainability strategies that do not explicitly account for the indirect, distant, or long-lived impacts of environmental consumption throughout the supply and product chains. Indeed, it is unrealisticand not necessarily desirableto require cities to be solely supported by resources produced within their administrative boundaries. In discussing sustainability from a global perspective, Burger et al. See our explanation on Urban Sustainability to learn more! But city authorities need national guidelines and often national policies. See the explanations on Suburbanization, Sprawl, and Decentralization to learn more! Development, i.e., the meeting of peoples needs, requires use of resources and implies generation of wastes. It can be achieved by reducing, reusing, and recycling materials. As described in Chapter 2, many indicators and metrics have been developed to measure sustainability, each of which has its own weaknesses and strengths as well as availability of data and ease of calculation. Intended as a comparative illustration of the types of urban sustainability pathways and subsequent lessons learned existing in urban areas, this study examines specific examples that cut across geographies and scales and that feature a range of urban sustainability challenges and opportunities for collaborative learning across metropolitan regions. Healthy human and natural ecosystems require that a multidimensional set of a communitys interests be expressed and actions are intentional to mediate those interests (see also Box 3-2). Durable sustainability policies that transcend single leaders, no matter how influential, will also be necessary to foster reliable governance and interconnectedness over the long term for cities. 4, Example of a greenbelt in Tehran, Iran. Globally, over 50% of the population lives in urban areas today. To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter. Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name. (2009), NRC (2004), Pina et al. Big Idea 3: SPS - How are urban areas affected by unique economic, political, cultural, and environmental Finally, the greater challenge of overpopulation from urban growth must be addressed and responded to through sustainable urban development. How many categories are there in the AQI? However, recent scientific analyses have shown that major cities are actually the safest areas in the United States, significantly more so than their suburban and rural counterparts, when considering that safety involves more than simply violent crime risks but also traffic risks and other threats to safety (Myers et al., 2013). Understanding indicators and making use of them to improve urban sustainability could benefit from the adoption of a DPSIR framework, as discussed by Ferro and Fernndez (2013). Stop procrastinating with our smart planner features. Ultimately, the goal of urban sustainability is to promote and enable the long-term well-being of people and the planet, yet doing so requires recognition of the biophysical constraints on all human and natural systems, as well as the acknowledgment that urban sustainability is multiscale and multidimensional, both encompassing and transcending urban jurisdictions. Therefore, urban sustainability will require making explicit and addressing the interconnections and impacts on the planet. Taking the challenges forward. There are six main challenges to urban sustainability. For a pollutantthe sustainable rate of emission can be no greater than the rate at which that pollutant can be recycled, absorbed, or rendered harmless in its sink. Ready to take your reading offline? Many of these class and cultural inequalities are the products of centuries of discrimination, including instances of officially sanctioned discrimination at the hands of residents and elected leaders (Fullilove and Wallance, 2011; Powell and Spencer, 2002). Very little information on the phases of urban processes exists, be it problem identification or decision making. These win-win efficiencies will often take advantage of economies of scale and adhere to basic ideas of robust urbanism, such as proximity and access (to minimize the time and costs of obtaining resources), density and form (to optimize the use of land, buildings, and infrastructure), and connectedness (to increase opportunities for efficient and diverse interactions). For instance, industrial pollution, which can threaten air and water quality, must be mitigated. Key variables to describe urban and environmental systems and their interrelationships; Measurable objectives and criteria that enable the assessment of these interrelationships; and. Sustainable urban development, as framed under Sustainable Development Goal 11, involves rethinking urban development patterns and introducing the means to make urban settlements more inclusive, productive and environmentally friendly. Name three countries with poor air quality. Cities are not islands. True or false? In this context, we offer four main principles to promote urban sustainability, each discussed in detail below: Principle 1: The planet has biophysical limits. Cities have captured more than 80 percent of the globes economic activity and offered social mobility and economic prosperity to millions by clustering creative, innovative, and educated individuals and organizations. There is the issue, however, that economic and energy savings from these activities may suffer from Jevons Paradox in that money and energy saved in the ways mentioned above will be spent elsewhere, offsetting local efficiencies (Brown et al., 2011; Hall and Klitgaard, 2011). Cities that want to manage the amount of resources they're consuming must also manage population increases. True or false? 2. True or false? Once established, urban metabolism models supported by adequate tools and metrics enable a research stream to explore the optimization of resource productivity and the degree of circularity of resource streams that may be helpful in identifying critical processes for the sustainability of the urban system and opportunities for improvement. Science can also contribute to these pathways by further research and development of several key facets of urban areas including urban metabolism, threshold detection of indicators, comprehension of different data sets, and further exploration of decision-making processes linked across scales. The spatial and time scales of various subsystems are different, and the understanding of individual subsystems does not imply the global understanding of the full system. It is beyond the scope of this report to examine all available measures, and readers are directed to any of the numerous reviews that discuss their relative merits (see, for example, uek et al., 2012; EPA, 2014a; Janetos et al., 2012; Wiedmann and Barrett, 2010; Wilson et al., 2007; The World Bank, 2016; Yale University, 2016). What are Key Urban Environmental Problems? - Massachusetts Institute of Particularly for developing countries, manufacturing serves as a very important economic source, serving contracts or orders from companies in developed countries. At its core, the concept of sustainable development is about reconciling development and environment (McGranahan and Satterthwaite, 2003). Urbanization is a global phenomenon with strong sustainability implications across multiple scales. One challenge in the case of cities, however, is that many of these shared resources do not have definable boundaries such as land. Sustainable solutions are to be customized to each of the urban development stages balancing local constraints and opportunities, but all urban places should strive to articulate a multiscale and multipronged vision for improving human well-being. Not a MyNAP member yet? Discussions should generate targets and benchmarks but also well-researched choices that drive community decision making. Fig. The challenge is to develop a new understanding of how urban systems work and how they interact with environmental systems on both the local and global scale. Cities with a high number of manufacturing are linked with ____. Create the most beautiful study materials using our templates. The spread and continued growth of urban areas presents a number of concerns for a sustainable future, particularly if cities cannot adequately address the rise of poverty, hunger, resource consumption, and biodiversity loss in their borders. The main five responses to urban sustainability challenges are regional planning efforts, urban growth boundaries, farmland protection policies, and greenbelts. Will you pass the quiz? Regional cooperation is especially important to combat suburban sprawl; as cities grow, people will look for cheaper housing in surrounding rural and suburban towns outside of cities. Urban sustainability requires durable, consistent leadership, citizen involvement, and regional partnerships as well as vertical interactions among different governmental levels, as discussed before. Although perfect class and economic equality is not possible, severe urban disparities should remain in check if cities are to realize their full potential and become appealing places of choice for multigenerational urban dwellers and new urban immigrants alike. Ecological footprint analysis has helped to reopen the controversial issue of human carrying capacity. The ecological footprint of a specified population is the area of land and water ecosystems required continuously. As discussed by Bai (2007), although there are factors beyond local control, the main obstacles to bringing the global concerns onto the local level are the reflection of contradictory perceptions, concerns, interests, and priorities, rather than the scale of the issue. Local decision making must have a larger scope than the confines of the city or region. So Paulo Statement on Urban Sustainability: A Call to Integrate Our Environmental disasters are more likely to occur with greater intensity; buildings, streets, and facilities are more likely to be damaged or destroyed. Earn points, unlock badges and level up while studying. Each of these urban sustainability challenges comes with its own host of issues. This course is an introduction to various innovators and initiatives at the bleeding edge of urban sustainability and connected technology. Conceptually, the idea that there is an ecological footprint, and that sustainable cities are places that seek to minimize this footprint, makes great sense (Portney, 2002). 2 - River in the Amazon Rainforest; environmental challenges to water sustainability depend on location and water management. Consequently, what may appear to be sustainable locally, at the urban or metropolitan scale, belies the total planetary-level environmental or social consequences. Cities have central roles in managing the planets resources sustainability (Seitzinger et al., 2012). They found that while those companies lost almost 600,000 jobs compared with what would have happened without the regulations, there were positive gains in health outcomes. These goals do not imply that city and municipal authorities need be major providers of housing and basic services, but they can act as supervisors and/or supporters of private or community provision. UCLA will unveil plans on Nov. 15 designed to turn Los Angeles into a global model for urban sustainability. Clustering populations, however, can compound both positive and negative conditions, with many modern urban areas experiencing growing inequality, debility, and environmental degradation. Transportation, industrial facilities, fossil fuels, and agriculture. What are the 5 responses to urban sustainability challenges? Urban sustainability strategies and efforts must stay within planetary boundaries,1 particularly considering the urban metabolism, constituted by the material and energy flows that keep cities alive (see also Box 3-1) (Burger et al., 2012; Ferro and Fernndez, 2013). How can regional planning efforts respond tourban sustainability challenges? Fill in the blanks. Restrictive housing covenants, exclusionary zoning, financing, and racism have placed minorities and low-income people in disadvantaged positions to seek housing and neighborhoods that promote health, economic prosperity, and human well-being (Denton, 2006; Rabin, 1989; Ritzdorf, 1997; Sampson, 2012; Tilley, 2006). Identify your study strength and weaknesses. 1, Smog over Almaty, Kazakhstan (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smog_over_Almaty.jpg), by Igors Jefimovs (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Igor22121976), licensed by CC-BY-3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), Fig. Sustainable urban development has its own challenges ranging from urban growth to environmental problems caused by climate change. Successful models exist elsewhere (such as British Columbia, Canadas, carbon tax), which can be adapted and scaled to support urban sustainability action across America. Urban sustainability has been defined in various ways with different criteria and emphases, but its goal should be to promote and enable the long-term well-being of people and the planet, through efficient use of natural resources and production of wastes within a city region while simultaneously improving its livability, through social amenities, economic opportunity, and health, so that it can better fit within the capacities of local, regional, and global ecosystems, as discussed by Newman (1999). Let's take a look at how the challenges of sustainable urban development may not be challenges at allit all depends on perspective! Poor waste management likewise can harm the well-being of residents through improper waste disposal. Health equity is a crosscutting issue, and emerging research theme, in urban sustainability studies. Introduction. In order to facilitate the transition toward sustainable cities, we suggest a decision framework that identifies a structured but flexible process that includes several critical elements (Figure 3-1). What are six challenges to urban sustainability? Sustainable Cities: Urban Planning Challenges and Policy Ensuring urban sustainability can be challenging due to a range of social, economic, and environmental factors. Over the long term and at global scales, economic growth and development will be constrained by finite resources and the biophysical limits of the planet to provide the resources required for development, industrialization, and urbanization. Urban sustainability is therefore a multiscale and multidimensional issue that not only centers on but transcends urban jurisdictions and which can only be addressed by durable leadership, citizen involvement, and regional partnerships as well as vertical interactions among different governmental levels. The urban south and the predicament of global sustainability One is that the ecological footprint is dominated by energy as over 50 percent of the footprint of most high- and middle-income nations is due to the amount of land necessary to sequester greenhouse gases (GHGs). There is evidence that the spatial distribution of people of color and low-income people is highly correlated with the distribution of air pollution, landfills, lead poisoning in children, abandoned toxic waste dumps, and contaminated fish consumption.