Urban sustainability requires the involvement of citizens, private entities, and public authorities, ensuring that all resources are mobilized and working toward a set of clearly articulated goals. The ecological footprint of cities is measured by the number of people in a city and how much they're consuming. To analyze the measures taken at an urban level as a response to the challenges posed by the pandemic (RQ1), we used a set of criteria. A suburban development is built across from a dense, urban neighborhood. Health equity is a crosscutting issue, and emerging research theme, in urban sustainability studies. Suburban sprawl is unrestricted growth outside of major urban areas with separate designations for residential, commercial, entertainment, and other services, usually only accessible by car. Urban sprawl reduces available water catchment areas, agricultural lands and increases demand for energy. 3 Principles of Urban Sustainability: A Roadmap for Decision Making. However, what is needed is information on flows between places, which allows the characterization of networks, linkages, and interconnections across places. To avoid negative consequences, it is important to identify the threshold that is available and then determine the actual threshold values. Waste management systems have the task of managing current and projected waste processing. These can be sites where previous factories, landfills, or other facilities used to operate. The strategies employed should match the context. For the APHG Exam, remember these six main challenges! MyNAP members SAVE 10% off online. How can a city's ecological footprint be a challenge to urban sustainability? It focuses on real world examples within two key themes - smart cities and transportation - as a way to look at the challenges and practical responses related to urban sustainability. or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one. How can urban growth boundaries respond tourban sustainability challenges? The environment has finite resources, which present limits to the capacity of ecosystems to absorb or break down wastes or render them harmless at local, regional, and global scales. More about Challenges to Urban Sustainability, Fig. Everything you need for your studies in one place. There are several responses to urban sustainability challenges that are also part of urban sustainable development strategies. This will continue the cycle of suburban sprawl and car dependency. A practitioner could complement the adopted standard(s) with additional indicators unique to the citys context as necessary. ), as discussed in Chapter 2. Some of the challenges that cities and . Urban sustainability challenges 5. Health impacts, such as asthma and lung disease. What are the 5 indicators of water quality? Cities with a high number of manufacturing are linked with ____. 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. Poor resource management can not only affect residents in cities but also people living in other parts of the world. In short, urban sustainability will require a reconceptualization of the boundaries of responsibility for urban residents, urban leadership, and urban activities. One is that the ecological footprint is dominated by energy as over 50 percent of the footprint of most high- and middle-income nations is due to the amount of land necessary to sequester greenhouse gases (GHGs). 11: 6486 . 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. A description of each of these phases is given below. Nothing can go wrong! Since materials and energy come from long distances around the world to support urban areas, it is critical for cities to recognize how activities and consumption within their boundaries affect places and people outside their boundaries. Assessing a citys environmental impacts at varying scales is extremely difficult. Currently, many cities have sustainability strategies that do not explicitly account for the indirect, distant, or long-lived impacts of environmental consumption throughout the supply and product chains. Principle 4: Cities are highly interconnected. 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. As climate change effects intensify extreme weather patterns, disturbances in water resources can occur. Maintaining good air and water quality in urban areas is a challenge as these resources are not only used more but are also vulnerable to pollutants and contaminants. Fair Deal legislation and the creation of the GI Bill. Create and find flashcards in record time. The effort of promoting sustainable development strategies requires a greater level of interaction between different systems and their boundaries as the impacts of urban-based consumption and pollution affect global resource management and, for example, global climate change problems; therefore, pursuing sustainability calls for unprecedented system boundaries extensions, which are increasingly determined by actions at the urban level. Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released. In other words, the challenges are also the reasons for cities to invest in sustainable urban development. 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. Long-term policies and institutionalized activities that can promote greater equity can contribute to the future of sustainable cities. Clustering populations, however, can compound both positive and negative conditions, with many modern urban areas experiencing growing inequality, debility, and environmental degradation. So Paulo Statement on Urban Sustainability: A Call to Integrate Our Responses to Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss, and Social Inequality . Urban sustainability strategies and efforts must stay within planetary boundaries,1 particularly considering the urban metabolism, constituted by the material and energy flows that keep cities alive (see also Box 3-1) (Burger et al., 2012; Ferro and Fernndez, 2013). Complementary research showed that clean air regulations have reduced infant mortality and increased housing prices (Chay and Greenstone, 2005; EPA, 1999). This is because without addressing these challenges, urban sustainability is not as effective. Let's take a look at how the challenges of sustainable urban development may not be challenges at allit all depends on perspective! What are some effects of air pollution on society. Urban governments are tasked with the responsibility of managing not only water resources but also sanitation, waste, food, and air quality. Successful models exist elsewhere (such as British Columbia, Canadas, carbon tax), which can be adapted and scaled to support urban sustainability action across America. All of the above research needs derive from the application of a complex system perspective to urban sustainability. These goals do not imply that city and municipal authorities need be major providers of housing and basic services, but they can act as supervisors and/or supporters of private or community provision. This could inadvertently decrease the quality of life for residents in cities by creating unsanitary conditions which can lead to illness, harm, or death. The continuous reassessment of the impact of the strategy implemented requires the use of metrics, and a DPSIR framework will be particularly useful to assess the progress of urban sustainability. 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. 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. Statement at NAS Exploratory Meeting, Washington, DC. 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. Power plants, chemical facilities, and manufacturing companies emit a lot of pollutants into the atmosphere. City-regional environmental problems such as ambient air pollution, inadequate waste management and pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal areas. 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. 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). 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. By 2045, the world's urban population will increase by 1.5 times to 6 billion. You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. The six main challenges to urban sustainability include: Other urban sustainability challenges include industrial pollution, waste management, and overpopulation. The unrestricted growthoutside of major urban areas with separate designations for residential, commercial, entertainment, and other services, usually only accessible by car. A set of standards that are required of water in order for its quality to be considered high. Stop procrastinating with our study reminders. Urban sustainability is the goal of using resources to plan and develop cities to improve the social, economic, and environmental conditions of a city to ensure the quality of life of current and future residents. How can regional planning efforts respond tourban sustainability challenges? More than half the worlds population lives in urban areas, with the U.S. percentage at 80 percent. Moreover, because most cities are geographically separated from their resource base, it is difficult to assess the threat of resource depletion or decline. Sustainability is a community concern, not an individual one (Pelletier, 2010). Given the uneven success of the Millennium Development Goals, and the unprecedented inclusion of the urban in the SDG process, the feasibility of SDG 11 was assessed in advance of . 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). 2Abel Wolman (1965) developed the urban metabolism concept as a method of analyzing cities and communities through the quantification of inputswater, food, and fueland outputssewage, solid refuse, and air pollutantsand tracking their respective transformations and flows. What are five responses to urban sustainability challenges? 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. A holistic view, focused on understanding system structure and behavior, will require building and managing transdisciplinary tools and metrics. Regional planning can also help create urban growth boundaries, a limit that determines how far an urban area will develop spatially. Cities are not islands. Characterizing the urban metabolism constitutes a priority research agenda and includes quantification of the inputs, outputs, and storage of energy, water, nutrients, products, and wastes, at an urban scale. 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. 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). View our suggested citation for this chapter. To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter. (2012) argued that the laws of thermodynamics and biophysical constraints place limitations on what is possible for all systems, including human systems such as cities. Urban sustainability is therefore a multiscale and multidimensional issue that not only centers on but transcends urban jurisdictions and which can only be addressed by durable leadership, citizen involvement, and regional partnerships as well as vertical interactions among different governmental levels. Urban metabolism2 may be defined as the sum of the technical and socioeconomic processes that occur in cities, resulting in growth, production of energy, and elimination of waste (Kennedy et al., 2007). 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. For instance, greater regional planning efforts are necessary as cities grow and change over time. Poor resource management can not only affect residents in cities but also people living in other parts of the world. Getting an accurate picture of the environmental impacts of all human activity, including that of people working in the private sector, is almost impossible. The project is the first of six in the UCLA Grand Challenge initiative that will unite the university's resources to tackle some of society's most pressing issues.. Urban systems are complex networks of interdependent subsystems, for which the degree and nature of the relationships are imperfectly known. Taking the challenges forward. Making cities more resilient against these environmental threats is one of the biggest challenges faced by city authorities and requires urgent attention. Ecological footprint calculations show that the wealthy one-fifth of the human family appropriates the goods and life support services of 5 to 10 hectares (12.35 to 24.70 acres) of productive land and water per capita to support their consumer lifestyles using prevailing technology. Indeed, it is unrealisticand not necessarily desirableto require cities to be solely supported by resources produced within their administrative boundaries. 2 - River in the Amazon Rainforest; environmental challenges to water sustainability depend on location and water management. It focuses on nine cities across the United States and Canada (Los Angeles, CA, New York City, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Grand Rapids, MI, Flint, MI, Cedar Rapids, IA, Chattanooga, TN, and Vancouver, Canada), chosen to represent a variety of metropolitan regions, with consideration given to city size, proximity to coastal and other waterways, susceptibility to hazards, primary industry, and several other factors. In particular, the institutional dimension plays an important role in how global issues are addressed, as discussed by Gurr and King (1987), who identified the need to coordinate two levels of action: the first relates to vertical autonomythe citys relationship with federal administrationand the second relates to the horizontal autonomya function of the citys relationship with local economic and social groups that the city depends on for its financial and political support. Furthermore, the development of indicators should be supported with research that expresses the impact of the indicator. Practitioners starting out in the field would be well served by adopting one or more of the best practice standards (e.g., United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Urban Sustainability Directors Network Sustainability Tools for Assessing and Rating Communities, and International Organization for Standardization Sustainability Standards) rather than endeavoring to develop their own unique suite of metrics as their data would be more comparable between cities and would have some degree of external validity built in. Stop procrastinating with our smart planner features. European cities have been at the forefront of the crisis from the very beginning, not only bearing the worst impacts but also becoming key actors in advocating for a green and just recovery. You're a city planner who has gotten all the support and funding for your sustainability projects. Right? Cities that are serious about sustainability will seek to minimize their negative environmental impacts across all scales from local to global. Water resources in particular are at a greater risk of depletion due to increased droughts and floods. Sustainable management of resources and limiting the impact on the environment are important goals for cities. What are the six main challenges to urban sustainability? In recent years, city-level sustainability indicators have become more popular in the literature (e.g., Mori and Christodoulou, 2012). Urban sustainability is a large and multifaceted topic. Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free? Although perfect class and economic equality is not possible, severe urban disparities should remain in check if cities are to realize their full potential and become appealing places of choice for multigenerational urban dwellers and new urban immigrants alike. 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. How can urban growth boundaries respond to, How can farmland protection policies respond to, How can the redevelopment of brownfields respond to. Generally, rural areas experience more levels of pollution than urban areas. Non-point source pollution is when the exact location of pollution can be located. In other words, the needs call for the study of cities as complex systems, including the processes at different scales, determining factors, and tipping points to avoid adverse consequence. Third, the critical task of developing finance models to support urban sustainability action requires urgent attention. Urban governments are tasked with the responsibility of managing not only water resources but also sanitation, waste, food, and air quality. 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. Furthermore, the governance of urban activities does not always lie solely with municipal or local authorities or with other levels of government. Cities in developed countries may create more waste due to consuming and discarding a greater amount of packaging. 4, Example of a greenbelt in Tehran, Iran. How can suburban sprawl be a challenge to urban sustainability? The major causes of suburban sprawl are housing costs,population growth,lack of urban planning, andconsumer preferences. Meeting development goals has long been among the main responsibilities of urban leaders. Commercial waste is generated by businesses, usually also in the form of an overabundance of packaged goods. Low density (suburban sprawl) is correlated with high car use. True or false? The clean-up for these can be costly to cities and unsustainable in the long term. 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. Inequitable environmental protection undermines procedural, geographic, and social equities (Anthony, 1990; Bullard, 1995). Goals relating to local or global ecological sustainability can be incorporated into the norms, codes, and regulations that influence the built environment. The other is associated to the impact of technology intensity that is assumed for characterizing productivity in terms of the global hectare. Pollution includes greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. A city or region cannot be sustainable if its principles and actions toward its own, local-level sustainability do not scale up to sustainability globally. The sustainability of a city cannot be considered in isolation from the planets finite resources, especially given the aggregate impact of all cities.

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