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Characteristics of a Sustainable City
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The term sustainability is a difficult concept to define as it refers more to a process rather than an end-point. The path towards sustainability can be achieved by effective governance at different scales such as regional bodies, national agencies, or local authorities. For example, Agenda 21 prescribes lifestyle changes, governed through local implementation often in the guise of Local Agenda 21. This requires consultation and consensus building with all sectors of the community (local, civic, community, business and industry). Cities can vary in definition and classification depending on the sector or issue being researched, the function being observed as well as the legislative or administration system being referred to (district council, county council). There are many different terms, which can be applied to cities, which often refer to conceptual, physical or administrative boundaries of a city. These include urban, municipality, metropolitan, city, city-region and non-rural. Their boundaries are often indistinct visually and local governance may also include both rural and urban areas e.g. city councils. An important buffer zone is the suburban/peer-urban interface, which can be included in some city definitions. These have additional associated social, economic and environmental pressures exerted on it such as localized air pollution caused by traffic pollution along main transport corridors. It is also difficult to look at cities as a single, self-contained entities as every city requires inputs and outputs and flows of goods, services, people, communication and information, news, water, air, food, raw materials etc in order for it to develop, sustainably or otherwise. Many of these inputs and outputs are uncontrollable and can be either beneficial or detrimental such as air and water pollution and traffic congestion. SEI adopts two approaches when addressing the issues concerning sustainable cities. A Systemic Approach - Urban environmental problems involve complex webs of interconnected and changing problems, which cannot be addressed effectively in isolation. Urban strategies must recognize these interconnections, and work with them. In most cities, this requires a fundamental shift in approach, greater inter-sectoral co-operation, and more forward-looking strategies. A Participatory Approach - Urban residents and stakeholders need not be passive recipients of urban environmental planning. Indeed, public engagement has historically been one of the main catalysts of urban environmental improvement, and the role of urban residents as agents of change is likely to be central in the future as well. These approaches are also linked to the recognition of the diversities in cities and that each city has unique characteristics and history. Within a global context, cities are at different stages of development with many cities in the South undergoing rapid urbanisation and experiencing financial and economic development, compared to those in the North recovering from industrial decline and undergoing urban regeneration. Depending on the comparative wealth of cities, income-related problems will occur. Low-income cities experience local problems of poor sanitation and water accessibility, middle-income environmental burdens tend to be city-wide and regional (ambient air pollution, coastal zone pollution, etc.) while affluent cities often have global problems (green-house gas emission, unsustainable consumption patterns etc.). |
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