The 2015 Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index Report Ranks Frankfurt

Sustainable cities are an ecosystem with not many environmental issues. Some of the issues that are not present within a sustainable city are air pollution, mass population and excessive water and energy usage. A sustainable city does not have a negative impact on the environment. It has a small ecological footprint, which is the impact of a person or community on the environment. It would also have a lot of greenery, meaning a lot of vegetation and use renewable energy, solar panels and wind energy.

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.

The Sustainable Communities Index is a system of indicators for livable, equitable and prosperous cities. It is

Buffalo New York, a city in western new york located between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, two of the great lakes, was once known as an industrial capital in the twentieth century. The city has now shifted into a more sustainable lifestyle, taking the once industrial factories and transforming them into different attractions. As of today this is their sustainable triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit:

A world city is a large city that has been outstripped its natural urban network and become part of an international global system. World cities have become the central connecting point for the multiplicity of linkages and interconnections that sustain the contemporary world economy, and its social and political systems. According to the 2004 GaWC studies world cities can be ranked based on their provision of ‘advanced producer services’ such as accountancy, advertising, finance and law. In 2008 the rankings according to the GaWC determined that London and New York were Alpha ++ cities whilst Sydney, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore were Alpha

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.

What is the impact of unsustainable practices in the development of new cities like Canberra on Global Systems? (Draw on any experiences from your own background)

Sustainability is a broad and increasingly familiar topic in our culture. Sustainable farm-to-fork restaurants have sprung up all over the United States, urban gardening has become a popular habit for those living in the city, and numerous stores have recycling centers and ‘green’ products. What do these things have in common? Each example mentioned above helps resources last for future generations. Farm-to-fork restaurants support local agriculture, which supports dozens of plants growing and purifying the air and our environment. They also minimize fossil fuels released into the air from traveling long distances. Urban gardens help counteract city pollution. Recycling centers cut the amount of waste in landfills, and green products last longer

George Wallace’s first Ecotourism Principle requires minimizing negative impacts to locals and the environment (Wallace, 1999). New Belgium directly reflects this principle through their core value of being environmental stewards by, “minimizing resource consumption, maximizing energy efficiency and recycling,” (New Belgium Brewery, 2017b). As stated previously, New Belgium has their own wastewater treatment plant that promotes to reduce, reuse, and recycle water and eventually return to the city for residential use. Furthermore, their core value of constantly innovating quality and enhancing improvements enforces minimal negative impacts to locals and the environment (New Belgium Brewery, 2017b).

The point of SimCity is to develop a flourishing city for its citizens while staying within a budget; with that in mind, players have the freedom to expand their city however they want to. When looking from a sustainability viewpoint, the challenge is to build an environmentally friendly city in spite of certain constraints;

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.

In Poland, many species and habitats in the woodland ecosystem are being destroyed because air pollution is increasing throughout the years. Poland has helped humanity by improving the environment and substances in resources by signing in with many different programs that can help improve different types of land like forests and other regions. Since these are dying in numbers, Poland preserved their national parks and other places where species flourished to put a stop to those dying numbers. Poland does participate in the Natura 2000 Environmental Program that helped Poland establish a system of natural places for species to live in about 20% of the country's land. High numbers of tourists are also affecting the lives of many plants and animals and are causing problems in the area for pressure. Poland’s water has pollution damaging its condition.

The chronicle of Aalborg Commitments starts from the Aalborg Charter of European Sustainable Cities and Towns towards Sustainability which was signed in 1994 at Aalborg, Denmark (ICLEI, 1994). The Charter is the first European Conference discuss about sustainable urban development. The Charter inspired by the Rio Earth Summit’s Local Agenda 21 in its (Local Agenda 21) urban agenda. The charter had shifted the attention of EU countries to focus on sustainable urban development (ICLEI, 1996).

In addition to cooperation between all levels of society, environmental management of resources and activities is also necessary. Recently, Malmo has crafted two sustainable infrastructures that are leading examples of sustainability. The first being, Bo01, which is a district that maintains both modern structure and ecological sustainable architecture and the second, Ekostaden Augustenborg, is considered “one of the largest investments in Europe in the ecological conversion of an existing residential area.” Recently, the idea to expand Malmo as a city has been enacted and Point Hyllie has begun constructed in the area between Malmo and Oresund. This futuristic and green community is expected to be completed by the 2015 with living opportunities, office buildings and shopping centers. A problematic consequence of building a “futuristic” city is the ability of selling it to a population that has never witnessed something like it before. Fortunately, the Swedish are incredibly progressive and innovative therefore, I would imagine Hyllie to be accepted whole-heartedly by the population of Sweden.

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