How Does A Sustainable City Affect The Environment?

Mingyue Wang Mary Dawson ENGL-1120 4/10/2018 How does a sustainable city affect the environment? Introduction It is estimated that 50% of the global population now live in cities. With this migration into large urban centers, the difficulty of meeting the needs of significant number of people becomes an ever-increasing problem. Overpopulation, excessive consumption, pollution, and depletion of resources have presented environmental and health challenges in major cities. The need has never been greater to find solutions and reimagine urban landscapes (oxfam.org np). In 1994, the Aalborg Charter was created for sustainable cities and towns, and since then cities around the world have been leading the way in innovative and integrated approaches to sustainable living. The charter calls for a commitment to urban management, sustainable local economies, responsible consumption and demands legal action for violations of health, social equity, and justice. The world is urbanizing at a rapid pace. By 2050, more than 2 billion additional people will be living in cities (United Nations np). Furthermore, the vast majority of this growth will be concentrated in developing countries, with nearly 90% of the increase from cities in Africa and Asia (Global Environment Facility np). Therefore, cities remain the best place to start addressing huge trends driving global environmental degradation, including urbanization, a rising middle class, and growth in population. As engines of economic growth, cities generate approximately 80% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Additionally, they consume over two-thirds of world's energy supply and produce 70% of greenhouse gases (Global Environment Facility np). Cities are also uniquely vulnerable to rising ocean levels because of climate change, with 14 of the world's 19 largest cities being located in port areas. If well managed, solid, resilient, inclusive and resource-efficient cities could become drivers of the green economy that depends of environmental friendly resources such as green energy. This will contribute to both local livability and global public goods. Conversely, poor management leads to urban areas with degraded land, strained ecosystems, and essential infrastructure services, increased levels of pollution, and increased size of vulnerable populations (Global Environment Facility np). The population impact approach becomes largely irrelevant for understanding cities. It does alert us to our natural base, but it can be used to generate many rather ridiculous policy implications, from humans shifting to the ruralization of cities (Newman 276). Nonetheless, it becomes essential to seek a more expansive way of understanding cities. Population impact is largely a devastating concept since it asserts that the primary task of urban policy is to be against humans. There is little room to suggest how a city can manage its population growth, or even see it as a positive force on the impact of humans in the world. Thus, population impact is not only difficult, but of uncertain value if the goal is to reduce urban local or global effect. The primary issue around the growth of cities is ensuring that such growth is used to solve problems (Newman 277). Global and regional environmental problems a...