what are five responses to urban sustainability challenges?

Sustainable development can be implemented in ways that can both mitigate the challenges of urban sustainability and address the goals. As networks grow between extended urban regions and within cities, issues of severe economic, political, and class inequalities become central to urban sustainability. These can be sites where previous factories, landfills, or other facilities used to operate. Proper disposal, recycling, and waste management are critical for cities. . 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. 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. KUALA LUMPUR, February 10, 2018 - In an effort to support cities to achieve a greener future, a new Urban Sustainability Framework (USF), launched today by the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), serves as a guide for cities seeking to enhance their sustainability. What are some obstacles that a sustainable city faces? The Main Challenges of Urban Sustainability - ACB Consulting Services What are some anthropogenic causes of air pollution? Every indicator should be connected to both an implementation and an impact statement to garner more support, to engage the public in the process, and to ensure the efficiency and impact of the indicator once realized. Resources Cities need resources such as water, food and energy to be viable. This study provides direct and easily interpreted estimates of the air quality and infant health benefits of the 1970 Act. A practitioner could complement the adopted standard(s) with additional indicators unique to the citys context as necessary. It is crucial for city leaders to be aware of such perceptions, both true and artificial, and the many opportunities that may arise in directly addressing public concerns, as well as the risks and consequences of not doing so. Earn points, unlock badges and level up while studying. This will continue the cycle of suburban sprawl and car dependency. However, what is needed is information on flows between places, which allows the characterization of networks, linkages, and interconnections across places. Lack of regulation and illegal dumping are causes for concern and can lead to a greater dispersion of pollutants without oversight. StudySmarter is commited to creating, free, high quality explainations, opening education to all. Environmental disasters are more likely to occur with greater intensity; buildings, streets, and facilities are more likely to be damaged or destroyed. There is a general ignorance about. Consequently, what may appear to be sustainable locally, at the urban or metropolitan scale, belies the total planetary-level environmental or social consequences. Urban Innovation 1: Sustainability and Technology Solutions - Udemy It is also important to limit the use of resources that are harmful to the environment. This briefing provides an initial overview of how the . Right? Poor resource management can not only affect residents in cities but also people living in other parts of the world. 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. These tools should provide a set of indicators whose political relevance refers both to its usefulness for securing the fulfillment of the vision established for the urban system and for providing a basis for national and international comparisons, and the metrics and indicators should be policy relevant and actionable. For instance, domestic waste is household trash, usually generate from packaged goods. Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to influence Europe's transition towards more environmentally sustainable urbanisation patterns for years to come. (2009), NRC (2004), Pina et al. A large suburban development is built out in the countryside. when people exceed the resources provided by a location. 11: 6486 . Sustainable urban development has its own challenges ranging from urban growth to environmental problems caused by climate change. Adaptive Responses to Water, Energy, and Food Challenges and - MDPI Proper land-use designation and infrastructure planning can remedy the effects of urban growth. How can the redevelopment of brownfields respond tourban sustainability challenges? ), as discussed in Chapter 2. First, greater and greater numbers of people are living in urban areasand are projected to do so for the foreseeable future. 4, Example of a greenbelt in Tehran, Iran (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tochal_from_Modarres_Expressway.jpg), by Kaymar Adl (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kamshots/), licensed by CC-BY-2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en). When poorly managed, urbanization can be detrimental to sustainable development. Second, cities exist as part of integrated regional and global systems that are not fully understood. A suburban development is built across from a dense, urban neighborhood. Simply put, any sustainability plans, including those applied in urban areas, cannot violate the laws of nature if they are to achieve acceptable, long-term outcomes for human populations. Cities have central roles in managing the planets resources sustainability (Seitzinger et al., 2012). In other words, the challenges are also the reasons for cities to invest in sustainable urban development. How can urban growth boundaries respond tourban sustainability challenges? Classifying these indicators as characterizing a driver, a pressure, the state, the impact, or a response may allow for a detailed approach to be used even in the absence of a comprehensive theory of the phenomena to be analyzed. 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). However, some cities are making a much more concerted effort to understand the full range of the negative environmental impacts they produce, and working toward reducing those impacts even when impacts are external to the city itself. However, many of these areas may be contaminated and polluted with former toxins and the costs of clean-up and redevelopment may be high. Here we use the concept of ecological footprint, which has been proposed as an analytic tool to estimate the load imposed on the ecosphere by any specified human population (Berkowitz and Rees, 2003). 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. Non-point source pollution is when the exact location of pollution can be located. Upload unlimited documents and save them online. High amounts of nutrients that lead to an algal bloom and prevents oxygen and light from entering the water. Meeting the challenges of planetary stewardship demands new governance solutions and systems that respond to the realities of interconnectedness. In practice cities could, for example, quantify their sustainability impacts using a number of measures such as per capita ecological footprint and, making use of economies of scale, make efforts to reduce it below global levels of sustainability. 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). Each city's challenges are unique; however, many have implemented one or more of the following in their efforts to develop their own integrated solutions: 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. This is to say, the analysis of boundaries gives emphasis to the idea of think globally, act locally., Healthy people-environment and human-environment interactions are necessary synergistic relationships that underpin the sustainability of cities. Third, the critical task of developing finance models to support urban sustainability action requires urgent attention. 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). This is a target that leading cities have begun to adopt, but one that no U.S. city has developed a sound strategy to attain. Moreover, because most cities are geographically separated from their resource base, it is difficult to assess the threat of resource depletion or decline. Big Idea 3: SPS - How are urban areas affected by unique economic, political, cultural, and environmental 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. However, air quality and water resources can be protected through proper quality management and government policy. In an era that is characterized by global flows of commodities, capital, information, and people, the resources to support urban areas extend the impacts of urban activities along environmental, economic, and social dimensions at national and international levels, and become truly global; crossing these boundaries is a prerequisite for sustainable governance. The highest AQI range (at the level of concern of hazardous) means that air quality is extremely poor and poses dangerous health risks to all. doi: 10.17226/23551. Taking the challenges forward. Poor waste management likewise can harm the well-being of residents through improper waste disposal. Policies and cultural norms that support the outmigration, gentrification, and displacement of certain populations stymie economic and environmental progress and undermine urban sustainability (Fullilove and Wallace, 2011; Powell and Spencer, 2002; Williams, 2014). Extreme inequalities threaten public health, economic prosperity, and citizen engagementall essential elements of urban sustainability. These opportunities can be loosely placed in three categories: first, filling quantitative data gaps; second, mapping qualitative factors and processes; and third, identifying and scaling successful financing models to ensure rapid adoption. This definition includes: Localized environmental health problems such as inadequate household water and sanitation and indoor air pollution. Front Matter | Pathways to Urban Sustainability: Challenges and Three elements are part of this framework: A DPSIR framework is intended to respond to these challenges and to help developing urban sustainability policies and enact long-term institutional governance to enable progress toward urban sustainability. Power plants, chemical facilities, and manufacturing companies emit a lot of pollutants into the atmosphere. Finally, the greater challenge of overpopulation from urban growth must be addressed and responded to through sustainable urban development. Health impacts, such as asthma and lung disease. Extra-urban impacts of urban activities such as ecological . The clean-up for these can be costly to cities and unsustainable in the long term. Ensuring urban sustainability can be challenging due to a range of social, economic, and environmental factors. Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available. 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). 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. This can assist governments in preserving natural areas or agricultural fields. Understanding these interconnections within system boundaries, from urban to global, is essential to promote sustainability. 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. The following discussion of research and development needs highlights just a few ways that science can contribute to urban sustainability. Nongovernmental organizations and private actors such as individuals and the private sector play important roles in shaping urban activities and public perception. Water conservation schemes can then be one way to ensure both the quantity and quality of water for residents. 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). A strip mall is built along a major roadway. Concentrated energy use leads to greater air pollution with significant. A description of each of these phases is given below. 2, River in Amazon Rainforest (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:River_RP.jpg), by Jlwad (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Jlwad&action=edit&redlink=1), licensed by CC-BY-SA-4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en), Fig. Introduction. Sustainable Cities: Urban Planning Challenges and Policy Firstly, we focused on the type of the policy instrument, the challenge it wants to address, as well as its time horizon. suburban sprawl, sanitation, air and water quality, climate change, energy use, and the ecological footprint of cities. The strategies employed should match the context. In each parameter of sustainability, disruptions can only be withstood to a certain level without possible irreversible consequences. The first is to consider the environmental impacts of urban-based production and consumption on the needs of all people, not just those within their jurisdiction. There is the matter of urban growth that, if unregulated, can come in the form of suburban sprawl. It can be achieved by reducing, reusing, and recycling materials. Urban sustainability is a large and multifaceted topic. Therefore, the elimination of these obstacles must start by clarifying the nature of the issue, identifying which among the obstacles are real and which can be handled by changing perceptions, concerns, and priorities at the city level. Furthermore, this studys findings cross-validate the findings of earlier work examining the recession-induced pollution reductions of the early 1980s. outside of major urban areas with separate designations for residential, commercial, entertainment, and other services, usually only accessible by car. Urban governments are tasked with the responsibility of managing not only water resources but also sanitation, waste, food, and air quality. Given the relevance and impact of these constraints to the discussion of various pathways to urban sustainability, a further examination of these issues and their associated challenges are described in Appendix C (as well as by Day et al., 2014; Seto and Ramankutty, 2016; UNEP, 2012). If a city experiences overpopulation, it can lead to a high depletion of resources, lowering the quality of life for all. Name some illnesses that poor water quality can lead to. How can air and water quality be a challenge to urban sustainability? Register for a free account to start saving and receiving special member only perks. Activities that provide co-benefits that are small in magnitude, despite being efficient and co-occurring, should be eschewed unless they come at relatively small costs to the system. For example, in order to ensure that global warming remains below two degrees Celsius, the theoretical safe limit of planetary warming beyond which irreversible feedback loops begin that threaten human health and habitat, most U.S. cities will need to reduce GHG emissions 80 percent by 2050. The metric most often used is the total area of productive landscape and waterscape required to support that population (Rees, 1996; Wackernagel and Rees, 1996). How can energy use be a challenge to urban sustainability? See also Holmes and Pincetl (2012). How does air pollution contribute to climate change? 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. In most political systems, national governments have the primary role in developing guidelines and supporting innovation allied to regional or global conventions or guidelines where international agreement is reached on setting such limits. Identify your study strength and weaknesses. The six main challenges to urban sustainability include: Other urban sustainability challenges include industrial pollution, waste management, and overpopulation. 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). Specifically, market transformation can traditionally be accomplished by first supporting early adopters through incentives; next encouraging the majority to take action through market-based approaches, behavior change programs, and social norming; and, finally, regulating to prompt action from laggards. The sustainability of a city cannot be considered in isolation from the planets finite resources, especially given the aggregate impact of all cities. Fine material produced in air pollution that humans can breathe in. 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. See the explanations on Suburbanization, Sprawl, and Decentralization to learn more! 2 - River in the Amazon Rainforest; environmental challenges to water sustainability depend on location and water management. Some of the major advantages of cities as identified by Rees (1996) include (1) lower costs per capita of providing piped treated water, sewer systems, waste collection, and most other forms of infrastructure and public amenities; (2) greater possibilities for, and a greater range of options for, material recycling, reuse, remanufacturing, and the specialized skills and enterprises needed to make these things happen; (3) high population density, which reduces the per capita demand for occupied land; (4) great potential through economies of scale, co-generation, and the use of waste process heat from industry or power plants, to reduce the per capita use of fossil fuel for space heating; and (5) great potential for reducing (mostly fossil) energy consumption by motor vehicles through walking. Ultimately, all the resources that form the base on which urban populations subsist come from someplace on the planet, most often outside the cities themselves, and often outside of the countries where the cities exist. 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). New sustainability indicators and metrics are continually being developed, in part because of the wide range of sustainability frameworks used as well as differences in spatial scales of interest and availability (or lack thereof) of data. A multiscale governance system that explicitly addresses interconnected resource chains and interconnected places is necessary in order to transition toward urban sustainability (Box 3-4). What are Key Urban Environmental Problems? - Massachusetts Institute of As simple and straightforward as this may sound, the scale argument encompasses more than spatial scaleit is composed of multiple dimensions and elements. For the long-term success and resilience of cities, these challenges should serve as a current guide for current and future development. Create beautiful notes faster than ever before. Specific strategies can then be developed to achieve the goals and targets identified. 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). 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). Everything you need for your studies in one place. Poor waste management can lead to direct or indirect pollution of water, air, and other resources. Proper disposal, recycling, and waste management are critical for cities. 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). The six main challenges to urban sustainability include: suburban sprawl, sanitation, air and water quality, climate change, energy use, and the ecological footprint of cities. 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. What are the 5 responses to urban sustainability challenges? 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. The challenges to urban sustainability are often the very same challenges that motivate cities to be more sustainable in the first place. Daly (2002) proposed three criteria that must be met for a resouce or process to be considered sustainable: Fiala (2008) pointed to two issues that can be raised regarding the ecological footprint method. Pollution includes greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. Urban Development. The transition to sustainable urban development requires both appropriate city management and local authorities that are aware of the implications posed by new urban sustainability challenges. I have highlighted what I see as two of the most interesting and critical challenges in sustainable urban development: understanding the 'vision' (or visions) and developing a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted processes of change required to achieve more sustainable cities. In practice, simply trying to pin down the size of any specific citys ecological footprintin particular, the ecological footprint per capitamay contribute to the recognition of its relative impacts at a global scale. How can a city's ecological footprint be a challenge to urban sustainability? It will require recognition of the biophysical and thermodynamic aspects of sustainability. Urban sprawl reduces available water catchment areas, agricultural lands and increases demand for energy. A set of standards that are required of water in order for its quality to be considered high. Another approach is for government intervention through regulation of activities or the resource base. Intensive urban growth can lead to greater poverty, with local governments unable to provide services for all people. In many ways, this is a tragedy of the commons issue, where individual cities act in their own self-interest at the peril of shared global resources. Complementary research showed that clean air regulations have reduced infant mortality and increased housing prices (Chay and Greenstone, 2005; EPA, 1999). Urban sustainability refers to the ability of a city or urban area to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 4, Example of a greenbelt in Tehran, Iran. Special Issue "Local Government Responses to Catalyse Sustainable Urban Fig. 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). . Copyright 2023 National Academy of Sciences. Wrong! Only about 2 hectares (4.94 acres) of such ecosystems are available, however, for each person on Earth (with no heed to the independent requirements of other consumer species). Water resources in particular are at a greater risk of depletion due to increased droughts and floods. Particulate matter, lead, ground level ozone, nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Launched at the ninth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF9 . Human well-being and health are the cornerstones of livable and thriving cities although bolstering these relationships with myopic goals that improve human prosperity while disregarding the health of natural urban and nonurban ecosystems will only serve to undermine both human and environmental. Generally, rural areas experience more levels of pollution than urban areas. Addressing the Sustainable Urbanization Challenge What pollutants occur due to agricultural practices? What are the 5 indicators of water quality? 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. 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 course is an introduction to various innovators and initiatives at the bleeding edge of urban sustainability and connected technology. You're a city planner who has gotten all the support and funding for your sustainability projects. Efforts have been made by researchers and practitioners alike to create sets of indicators to assist in measuring and comparing the sustainability of municipalities, but few thresholds exist, and those that do often seem unattainable to municipal leaders. 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. Getting an accurate picture of the environmental impacts of all human activity, including that of people working in the private sector, is almost impossible. Best study tips and tricks for your exams. All rights reserved. Fossil fuel energy (coal, oil, and natural gas) currently supplies most of the world's energy, emitting carbon and other pollutants into the atmosphere that exacerbate climate change and reduce air quality. As one example, McGranahan and Satterthwaite (2003) suggested that adding concern for ecological sustainability onto existing development policies means setting limits on the rights of city enterprises or consumers to use scarce resources (wherever they come from) and to generate nonbiodegradable wastes.

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