Liveable cities
As urban centres grow larger, sustainable solutions to such issues as public transport become imperative. But creating a sustainable city means planning further into the future.
More than half the people in the world live in urban centres. They consume 75 percent of all resources and create 75 percent of all waste. Sustainability is the key if these centres are to remain habitable for future generations. The concept of a sustainable city is built on a definition set forth in the 1987 Brundtland report. This UN-sponsored report characterised sustainability as “development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Since then, efforts such as the Clinton Climate Initiative, launched in 2006, have increased society’s awareness of the economic, social and ecological dimensions surrounding the concept of sustainability.
In a sustainable city, resource consumption is minimised and renewable resources replace fossil fuels wherever possible. Green spaces are preserved and transport has more to do with walkways, bicycle paths and public transport than highways, congestion and urban sprawl.
Robert Vos, professor at the University of Southern California’s Center for Sustainable Cities, stresses the importance of not only preserving the biological integrity of a city and its hinterlands, but also of having social, economic and ecological aspects work hand in hand to achieve sustainability.
“We need to consider a sustainable livelihood as well,” he says. “One of the great lessons of sustainability is that a successful environmental policy needs to be linked with good jobs. Wastewater treatment infrastructure, for example, should not only support environmental policies, but also contribute to livelihoods. The same is the case with energy and transportation policies. It is important to consider the whole picture.”
Although many cities claim sustainability status, Vos says none can rightly be called sustainable as yet. “Sustainability is a journey rather than a destination,” he says. “It requires leaving enough for future generations and thinking in much longer time frames than normal. Typical planning is for five or 20 years, whereas sustainable city planning is multi-generational – 50 years or more.”
But there are some cities that are well on their way to becoming sustainable, he says. One is Brazil’s Curitiba. In 30 years, the population of Curitiba doubled, and with the rapid growth came major challenges. Despite this, the city was able to significantly improve its quality of life through social and environmental programmes and improved public transport.
“In Los Angeles we refer to the ‘Curitiba model’ for buses,” Vos says. “Curitiba has platforms for loading passengers, articulated buses that hold more people, high-speed dedicated bus lanes and the ability for buses to control traffic lights. We’ve adopted some of these features in Los Angeles but have a long way to go.”
What makes Curitiba even more successful, he says, is that in building out its transport infrastructure, the city paid attention to the mobility of people at all economic levels. “In some cities, mobility is dependent on your social class, and this hampers access to jobs, affordable housing and so on,” Vos explains. “It is very important, not only in the developing world but here in Los Angeles and other American cities, that people can live somewhat close to work and have access to jobs without needing their own car.”
Scandinavian cities appear to be on the right track as well, with smaller ecological footprints than North American cities. Stockholm, for example, emits an average of four tonnes of carbon dioxide per capita a year, while most US cities emit on average 20 tonnes per capita a year. In Stockholm, the population also makes good use of the public transport system, with as much as 70 percent using it during peak traffic times.
Ulf Ranhagen is a Stockholm professor who also works for the European consulting company Sweco on holistic and sustainable urban development. He believes in combining city planning with environmental technology for sustainable cities.
“Increasingly people are recognising the importance of city planning in making cities more sustainable,” he says. “In the past there was a reactive approach to environmental issues, but now people are more proactive in making cities environmentally sustainable and at the same time more attractive, liveable and innovative.”
Ranhagen and his colleagues have helped cities in Sweden, Canada, Ireland, Russia and South Africa increase energy efficiency through environmental technology. Now they are working on the first phase of an entirely new city, Caofeidian, to be situated 250 kilometres east of Beijing, that will accommodate an urban population of 400,000.
In the eco-city plan for Caofeidian, buses, bicycles and pedestrians are given priority. “We are introducing a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system with its own lanes that offers a high-capacity, rapid transit system as an attractive alternative to driving,” says Ranhagen. The BRT is being built up around mixed use, dense urban nodes with 50,000 inhabitants in each that also contain offices, homes, shopping (with ITS-based coordinated delivery service), bike service stations, car pools and other services. “With new cities like this, we have a unique opportunity to create a vision of the perfect sustainable city,” Ranhagen says.
At the heart of SymbioCity
Scania is a supplier of sustainable urban transport solutions to SymbioCity. SymbioCity is not an actual city, but rather a network of hundreds of consultants, contractors and system suppliers dedicated to spreading the vision of sustainable urbanism. Launched by the Swedish government in 2008, SymbioCity promotes holistic and sustainable urban development and works towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions, making energy and transport more efficient and improving water supplies.
Brundtland and sustainability
The Brundtland report, Our Common Future, was issued in 1987 by the UN-sponsored Brundtland Commission, led by chairman Gro Harlem Brundtland. The aim of the commission was to address “the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social development”. For a full copy of the report, go to www.un-documents.net/wced-ocf.htm
Jonas Strömberg - director of Sustainable Systems at Scania
3 Questions…
…for Jonas Strömberg, director of Sustainable Systems at Scania.
How can the SymbioCity initiative and the development of sustainable cities benefit Scania?
“With more than 50 percent of the world’s population living in urban centres, it is imperative that cities become sustainable. Thus there are lots of business opportunities at the moment for companies [like Scania] that supply green technology.”
What is Scania’s contribution to sustainable cities?
“We have a range of products, buses, trucks and engines that fit well into the sustainable city concept, which encourages both public transport and energy efficiency, and thereby reduces CO2-emissions. We will also work in partnerships with fuel and infrastructure suppliers.
What are the main challenges for sustainable cities?
“Transport is one of hardest nuts to crack. Society is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels, which are being depleted. The challenge is to make use of today’s green technology and simultaneously develop a sustainable transport system for the future.
“Another challenge is how society works with different fuels in different countries, due to the lack of harmonised standards, tax systems and so on. Regardless of the type of fuel, we all must become more energy efficient in the future.”
Text: Cari Simmons
Illustration: Caroline Andersson
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