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Characteristics to sustainable urban development
include to:
- Improve the quality of life of the population;
- Improve the living conditions of the poorest
social groups;
- Include natural resources as part of the
urban planification and regional territory;
- Consider urban-environmental plans for short,
medium, and long term periods;
- Incorporate the local sense of place into
the environmental education programmes with an interdisciplinary
focus;
- Guarantee public participation throughout
all the stages of urban-environmental planning.
- Integrate Environmental Impact Assessment
into urban policy.
- Create environmental regulations that
will respond to local community priorities, but will not infringe
upon national and regional laws; and
- Guarantee an efficient management and implementation
of the urban-environmental plans through the coordination of
local, provincial, and national governments.
AGENDA XXI; For the Metropolitan Area of Buenos
Aires. 1995-1997 .pg.4
Even during a period of rapid demographic
growth, physical expansion can be guided through integrated road
planning, investment in public transportation, and enforcement
of appropriate land use legislation. Technological solutions
and standards for everything from public transit to recycling
should be chosen on the basis of affordability. Integrated solutions
can be implemented through partnerships between key actors. This
often requires that the network of formal and informal economic
relations be supported and not hindered by urban managers. Creativity
can substitute for financial resources. There are ways for traditional
sources of problem to be turned into resources. Public information
and awareness are essential. The better citizens know their city,
the better they treat it (Rabinovitch and Leitman, Environment
Innovation and Management in Curitiba, Brazil, UNDP/UNCH/World
Bank, Urban Management and the Environment).
In order to create sustainable cities in this
rapidly urbanizing world, there is a need to make changes in
the organization and the structure of local governments. There
is a general acceptance that a centralized and hierarchical bureaucratic
system does not function well in today's fast-changing, information-rich,
knowledge-based society and economy, and that there is a need
for a more effective and efficient government. It has become
imperative to make urban organizations and institutions:
- more flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances;
- committed to the delivery of high-quality
and non-standardized goods and services to meet the demand of
an ever more critical population;
- more efficient to be able "to squeeze
ever more bang out of every buck"; and
- organizations that lead by persuasion and
incentives, including empowering citizens.
Source: Re-inventing Local Government for
Sustainable Cities, Yap Kioe Sheng and Radhika Savant Mohit.
Background paper for International Expert Group Meeting on Capacity
Building for Sustainable Cities in Asia, 2-6 June 1997. Human
Settlements Development Program, Asian Institute of Technology
Bangkok, Thailand. http://www.hsd.ait.ac.th/pra/rilgsc.html.
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