Week 3 Assignment: London Economic Development, Green Space

Greening the City
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Greening the City
As the element of sustainability sweeps through most of the sectors of the economy, one of the most recent development involved greening the cities. This is basically making sure that the urban areas are as sustainable as possible. This is following the rise in the growth of the urban areas in the last few decades. More people are moving to the cities in a rather exponential rate. As technology creates an interconnected world, most of the jobs and therefore resources are now concentrated around the urban centers. This has prompted a massive shift in the society and hence the need to make sure that the urban areas are environmentally friendly as possible. It is for this reason among others that the element of greening the cities has gained massive support. Sustainability is thus spreading to the city planning and related policies.[City of London Economic Development, Green Spaces: The Benefits For London, ebook, 1st ed. (London: City of London Corporation, 2013), accessed April 14, 2016, /business/economic-research-and-information/research-publications/Documents/research-2013/Green-Spaces-The-Benefits-for-London.pdf.]
Marin County is one of the administrative areas that developed such policies to see to it that it cities are developed according to the sustainability principles. From the table of content of the county’s plan is the goal to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases. This one of the most important elements of a green urban area, relative to the fact that the transport systems and the manufacturing units across the urban areas tend to pollute the air quality and therefore causing health complications in the general public. According to the brief given in the plan, the county of Marin does not have a wide spread problem relative to the quality of the air. However, there are areas such as the Bay Area, which has the particulate matter levels and ozone levels exceeding the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Some of the main sources of the pollution include the construction activities, vehicles, wood burning and agriculture. The plan does state categorically some of the areas that will have to be addressed such use of clean vehicle technologies, projects using mitigation measures to reduce pollution. However, considering the agriculture is one of the biggest contributors of the greenhouse gases, there are very few mitigation measures that have been suggested for the same, with moth of them focusing on manufacturing and transportation. In light of the air quality code, it is crucial for example to have the farmers educated on the need to use sustainable practices.[Hinds, Alex. Sustainable MARIN Nature, Built Environment, AND People Summary Of The 2007 Marin Countywide Plan. Ebook. 1st ed. California: Ma...