How Have Urban Environments Been Made More Sustainable And What More Needs To Be Done for the Future?
Introduction
The National Geographic Education define an urban environment as, ‘the region surrounding a city. Urban areas are very developed, meaning there is a density of human structures such as houses, commercial buildings, roads, bridges, and railways.(1)’ The International Institute for Sustainable Development define sustainable development as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (2)’ In 2014, approximately 54%(3) of the total global population live in urban environments. The global urban population has grown significantly from 34% in 1960(3)
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The provision of affordable mass transit provides residents of urban areas greater accessibility, which can provide them with more opportunities and services. Furthermore, with the provision of a successful transport system, it is highly likely for the number of people using personal vehicles to fall. This fall in the use of cars would mean that less harmful gases such as Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxide and Sulphur Dioxide released and so the natural environment would benefit. With a successful transport system, accessibility is greatly improved, which can be beneficial economically for a city. People are able to travel to and from work and the transport can also be used for trading goods and services. However, current mass transit is unsustainable in urban cities due to its reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels and the pollution it creates has a significant impact on the environment. Currently, transport is accountable for 20%-25% of world’s energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions(1) and the current systems mostly run on fossil fuels, which are expected to run out by 2088 according to ecotricity(2). In order to improve the sustainability of an urban area, the transport systems, which need to be in place for economic and social reasons, need to become greener, cleaner and run on renewable energy. Current technology is not currently in place to allow for this significant change and so gradual changes have been introduced in some of the world cities.
London’s
Making a sustainble city of tommorrow requires extensive city planning. Urban cities in Canada are making strides to create large metropolitan areas more environmentally friendly by using the latest green technologies and strategies. With comittment and time, all Canadian cities can implemet methods that will create livable cities for future generations.
How successful has the regeneration of urban areas been given the variety of ways it has been undertaken (40 marks)
Urban geography is a term that addresses the location of a city as well as that cities access to natural resources. Urban ecology, however, “analyzes how people spread out within an urban area” (12). According to the author the geographical location of a city is determined by geographical assets.” That is, the availability of water, ability to produce goods, and access to transportation routes (12).
In the following essay I will be talking about the disadvantages and advantages of partisan elections for state politics. I will also examine the last couple year's election results and costs. Finally, I will discuss if partisanship made a difference in the vote, as well as if a judge should be decided by partisan vote. In the next couple paragraphs I will talk more specifically about these topics.
Three quarters of emissions in 2004 were coming from road traffic (Woodcock, p.1930, 2009). Emissions used from transportation are forecasted to increase from the year 2007-2030 by about 80% according to studies done by James Woodcock who is currently studying climate change and health from car fuels (Woodcock, p.1930, 2009). This is due to the fact that the emissions from vehicles are increasing significantly and are higher than any other energy fragment (Woodcock, p.1930, 2009). The only way to lower this percentage is to decrease the number of individual automobiles on the road and increase the number of public transit systems, starting long distance walking to work or school, carpooling or even biking to destinations. These principles would
Urbanized areas also modify microclimates and air quality by altering the nature of the land surface and generating heat (Oke, 1987). Although ecological impacts of urban development often seem to be local, urbanization also causes environmental changes at larger scales. Today's cities are sustained by a socioeconomic infrastructure that operates on global scales; the ecologically productive area required to support an urban area can be 100 to 300 times larger than the urban region (Rees & Wackernagel, 1994). A new cooperative relationship between science, business and policy is needed to gather all the information needed and to find a solution that benefits all of society. The study of urban ecology ultimately involves studying how to integrate this new interdisciplinary knowledge about urban ecosystems into policymaking processes--to improve interactions between policymakers and scientists so as to help society achieve more sustainable existence. Today, the scientific and political communities lack the effective two-way communication and trust that they need to address urban ecological problems. Although science can help society formulate a range of options to achieve societal goals, it cannot make value judgments. In addition, scientists often cannot deliver definitive answers to questions posed by policymakers. To be able to find solutions to the larger issues
In ‘’ The Once And Future King ‘’ by T. H White is about a young boy named King Arthur or ‘’ Wart ‘’ who is raised by a foster father Sir Ector and accompanies Ector’s son, Sir Kay, who is a very spoiled as a child and is trained to be someday a knight. In Chapter 2, Wart meets the first knight King Pellinore who was on a quest to hunt the “Questing Beast”- head of a serpent, body of a libbard, haunches of a lion. In chapter 3, Wart invites King Pellinore to stay at Sir Ector’s castle but then Merlyn is introduced in the story. Merlyn is a magician which then becomes Wart’s tutor and Kay’s after he was introduced to Sir Ector. Throughout the tutoring sessions, Merlyn has been transforming Wart into different animals for Wart to experience and learn from each transformation. For example, Merlyn turned Wart into a perch. As a result, Wart meets and learns from Mr. P, who is a tyrannical perch, control of all fish in the moat of the Castle of the Forest Sauvage. Wart learns about power and might ‘’ military ‘’ which are the important lessons that Merlyn needs Wart to learn in order to be ready to become King Arthur later in the story. After six years, nothing hasn’t changed but Sir Kay is knighted and Wart is now a servant or squire for him. Now that Sir Kay is a knight, Merlyn wishes goodbye to all and decides that he has done his part as a tutor. Suddenly, king of England, Uther Pendragon died without any heir so there’s a tournament taking place in London to determine the
“He did not know it because he did not know such a thing existed” this quotation from the passage so eloquently describes the emotional struggle of love throughout the novel East of Eden and its characters. In the passage, the absence of love and nurture in Adam’s life, the main character, foreshadows itself with his relationships and the surrounding characters relationships as well. Another technique that author, John Steinbeck, employs is imagery. Through this imagery, Steinbeck is able to encapsulate the setting, mood, and tone for the reader.
New York City has unique benefits in that there are tremendous amounts of people who live within close proximity to each other. This has resulted in higher uses of mass transit systems (such as: subways and buses). On average, New York’s total environmental footprint is 7.1 metrics tons per person annually. This is much lower than national average of 24.5 metric tons. The city contributes 1% of the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere for the United States each year. (“Inventory Greenhouse of New York City,” 2007) (Jarvey, 2006)
Bigio, G and Dahiya, B, (2004) “Urban Environment and Infrastructure towards Livable Cities.” The World Bank, USA.
As the world’s population continue to migrate and live in urban areas, planners, engineers, and politicians have an important responsibilities to ensure that they are livable and sustainable. But what defines an urban area, and what makes it so attractive? In my opinion, urban area are places that consists of a variety of land uses and buildings. Places where services and amenities are easily accessible to the general public, with an efficient multimodal (i.e. rail, vehicles, bikes, public transit, walking and etc.) established transportation network. As well, it should be a place where people can play, learn, work, and grow in a healthy, safe, and collaborative manner. Based on that definition, the novel, Parable of the Sower
A modern city must take the initiative to not only look at the immediate problems, but also foresee any problems that lie ahead. Mega cities must maintain the social, geographical, and environmental aspects of a modern city. New York City is an ever-growing city that must adjust to the impending complications that lie ahead. New York City has taken many initiatives in the twenty-first century to try and improve the life of future New Yorkers. Mayor De Blasio has done a great job so far enacting policies to ensure that New York City continues to be a global model for modern life in an urban city. The conservation of the natural environment within an urban area can be an immediate challenge for any megacity, but it is very important for sustainability.
Urban sustainability is the idea that an urban area can be organised without excessive reliance on the surrounding countryside and be able to power itself with renewable sources of energy. The aim of this is to create the smallest possible environmental footprint and to produce the lowest quantity of pollution possible, to efficiently use land, compost used materials, recycle it or convert waste-to-energy, and to make the urban area overall contribution to climate change minimal. Therefore allowing the next generations and future generations to have the required resources without compromising them. However sustainably needs to focus also on other issues such as crime and economic factors.
Urbanization, which is becoming a buzzword during the last few decades, is enlarging at a booming speed. It is predicted that 93 percents urban growth will occur to the year 2020, in the developing world (Elliot J.A, 1999). Generally speaking, more than half of the people around the world have been moved to cities, which led to a series of “matters” connected with people’s life that changed in a dramatical way. In this period, sustainable development, another buzzword during the past few years, came into people’s view and gradually became the mainstream of society development. Its definition is to make the development continue in a long term, which means allowing appropriate economic growth and industrialization without
A sustainable city is when harmony is reached between the environment, economy and society. Environmentally, sustainable cities are ecologically friendly by using alternative sources of energy such as solar or wind power. Economically, governments should share a similar decision-making process with institutions and with the public by having a common belief in what should be done by improving sustainability. Sorensen, Marcotullio, and Grant (2004), find that a good decision making process consists of planning and control at the municipal and national political levels which would allow local level functions to become reinforced. Socially, sustainable cities are classless, meaning that there are no social divisions which serve as limits; leading to a more equal society. One of the many ideas would be using mixed housing to remove the class divisions between people. Also, city streets would be walkable, with businesses and services located at close proximity to promote a healthier lifestyle and serve as an alternative to using cars for transportation. The writers differ in their analysis when examining the approaches to improving sustainability in cities. This section will analyze four important ideas on how cities can become more sustainable.