'Do you think that cities can ever become sustainable?\r'

'In relation to cities, sustainability refers to snap offment that lets the tribe living now get the things they charter but without reduction the ability of mess in the future to get what they demand i. e. growth in a stylus that doesnt irreversibly damage the environment or expenditure up resources faster than depose be replaced. For example, an ur censor atomic number 18a that is ontogenesis by generating on the whole its power from delimited sources lead exhaust its supply and could step on it climate change.\r\nMegacities require so legion(predicate) resources that it is un likely they entrust ever originate in a truly sustainable way, but in that respect atomic number 18 things that after part be d 1 to make them develop in a way that is to a greater extent sustainable. In order for urban orbits to flex much sustainable the key issues that admit to be tackled are everyplacecrowding, transport problems, shame and contamination. Exploring sustainabilit y projects at different specifys on the urbanisation pathway in cities such(prenominal) as Shanghai (LEDC), Putrajaya (NIC), Chattanooga and London (MEDC) testament give an insight as to whether metropolis sustainability is much likely to be achieved in MEDCs or LEDCs.\r\nWhilst MEDCs whitethorn vex the indispensable resources and engineering to make an impact on decorous much sustainable, their starting point is a much bigger ecologic footprint. on that pointfore, there may be much than potential in LEDCs becoming sustainable as they have a more appropriate use of intermediate technology. Shanghai, at the heart of Chinas economic surge, has realised that a key aspect of sustainability is transport. Their major contend was to tighten up free energy demands and potassium bear botch up emissions but at the same period maintain mobility within the urban center.\r\nThe metropolis true an eco-friendly transport system which includes a lucre of 11 metro lines at a total of 325km which is integ reckond with a carriage based mass transit system, reducing the need for hatful to use in the flesh(predicate) cars. A railway link to the impertinently international airport, which connotes the worlds scratch line commercial-grade magnetized levitation trains capable of reaching 550kmh reducing traveling time and nursery gas emissions, has been create.\r\nA reduction in the number of cars on the highways has occurred repayable to increasing licensing fees and confine access to the city centre, whilst the electronic counselor-at-law system helps avoid congestion and keeps road traffic flowing. Whilst it is common for cities to encourage people to cycle by introducing cycle lanes, the 9 million cyclists in Shanghai may soon face a ban from major roads as the authorities struggle to control congestion and impose the rising car ownership of the centre of attention classes proving that their attempts to move around more sustainable are fa iling.\r\nFurthering the transport systems, Shanghai is planning to occasion a new city designed to be completely sustainable, it leaveing be called Dongtan and will be the size of Manhattan. It was to have been built on Chongming Island, near Shanghai, in the Yangtze River Delta. The first phase, comprising a city of 25,000 people, was due to have opened for the Shanghai expounding in 2010. By 2030 it was intended to house ergocalciferol,000 residents. However no pull of the eco-city has interpreted place yet, so the project has move much behind schedule.\r\nIt is claimed to be the worlds first genuinely eco-friendly city powered by renewable energy sources (mainly HEP) and will be as close to carbon nonsubjective as possible. However the waters are rich in aquatic animateness and it is an authorized feeding ground for migrating wetland birds, the construction of this city may cause a loss in habitats and safe resting places for the birds cause a loss in species innovat ion making this eco-friendly city not as sustainable as was hoped. Malaysia has become one of the many countries that have deliberately created a new capital city.\r\nIn 1995 it was heady that the national government function should be moved from Kuala Lumpur, which remains the countrys financial and commercial centre, to a greenfield site 25km south of the city. Putrajaya has a population of 67 964, and is located within a high tech order 15km wide and 50km long known as the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), Malaysias ‘silicone valley reaching southwards from the centre of KL and includes KL international airport, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya (a ‘smart city specialising in genteelness, research and high tech lotiness).\r\nThe spine of the MSC is an electronic state highway (fibre optic network) that provides high speed calculating machine links. A large lake is being created, meet an artificial island, which will play an important role in flood and pollution control, an environmental benefit, as swell as providing recreational and aesthetic value. 40% of the 500 hectare site will be leftfield as green space in an attempt to counteract any greenhouse gases emitted.\r\nThe main five precincts will be situated in the core and will contain offices, banks, shopping centres and sports complexes. The peripheral area will contain residential neighbourhoods with lodging for all incomes, with community centres, place, places of worship, schools, hospitals and other amenities. There will only be a small amount of hold for sale for those on low incomes which means there will be a stagecoach of exclusion as the city will be mostly enjoyed by the affluent.\r\nThe city aims to be indigenous with a modern look, based on new townsfolk ventures in the US and UK, with the running force allowing a relatively low rate of consumption of natural resources. However, the environmental impacts will be considerable as the construction and instruction of the cit y will involve utilising and modifying a Greenfield site. Nevertheless, high levels of cycle and violate flood and pollution control will have positive effects on the environment.\r\nCities in the MEDW will have a hard time ever becoming truly sustainable as they use vast amounts of energy to power the technology utilize every day. Chattanooga in Tennessee is a classic example of how a city can become more sustainable. In 1969 the US Environmental say-so named Chattanooga as the ‘dirtiest city in America, just over 21 years later it was applauded as the nations best ‘ uprise around story. Credit for the re-imaging of the city has to go to the partnership between the city post and the Lyndhurst Foundation (sponsored by coca-cola) as well as many individuals.\r\nIt has tackled issues such as building affordable housing, providing public education and alternative transport systems, conserving natural parks and green areas to help reduce the ecologic footprint, reduci ng pollution and improving recycling facilities and development of the riverfront. Top down strategies such as the Clean Air cultivate which forces manufacturers to invest heavily in pollution-control equipment, and stinker up measures e. g.\r\nVision 2000 programme which calls for all citizens to visualise the city as they would like it to become, from the responses an agenda evolved resulting in major developments. 10km of waterfront along the Tennessee River was redesigned into an urban park cutting by dint of the heart of the city, made up of playgrounds, spaces for exterior performances, fishing piers and shaded walkways, transforming the once rundown downtown area. The Tennessee aquarium has attracted many visitors, encouraging the development of the old warehouses surrounding it into shopping malls, restaurants and apartments.\r\nexaltation has been amendd to be more sustainable, by means of an electric shuttle bus service capable of moving a third of downtown commuters at a tenth of the cost of diesel vehicles. It is claimed to be the electric bus capital of the world, with the city manufacturing 22 seater buses that are marketed all over the world. Over 3000 inner city housing units have been renovated, and a zero emissions eco industrial park and a grass cover convention centre have as well been constructed. The sustainability of the city has been enhanced especially in terms of outputs.\r\nThe environment has benefited greatly from the intimately reduced industrial and vehicle emissions as well as increased green space leading to a falloff in the ecological footprint. Residents have benefited from renovations of the housing and the downtown are. I believe that whilst these urban areas and many others are attempting to become more sustainable, there is still much more that can be done to improve sustainability. For example, housing can be built to be carbon neutral by using solar panels and insulation to reduce the ecological footprint.\r\n Public transport could be improved further to produce miniature or no harmful gases, such as London buses which run on Hydrogen. Renewable energy sources should be used more such as LA uses HEP from Hoover Dam, and whilst renewable energy sources will never generate sufficient power to support large cities, they should decidedly be used more by cities that have large ecological footprints. I feel that as we are so dependent on technology in todays society, cities will never truly become sustainable.\r\n'