HOW CAN CITIES REDUCE THEIR ECO FOOTPRINT?

YOU NEED TO COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING ESSAY QUESTION:USING EXAMPLES, EXPLAIN HOW CITIES ARE TRYING TO REDUCE THEIR ECO FOOTPRINTS (BECOME MORE SUSTAINABLE)

-London,-Seoul,-Copenhagen, etc.

Through out the years cities want to become more and completely sustainable. Now you might be asking, what is it to be a sustainable city? Well a sustainable city is a city which has been designed with environmental concerns in mind. One of the goals of a sustainable city is to reduce or remove all needs and reliance on surrounding areas. The city must also think about what it is putting out into the surrounding environment. Sustainable cities want to reduce waste and lower pollution. Becoming a sustainable city means to reduce their eco-footprint. They need to think about having a city depending in its self and also combining it with the environment. Things that a city can implement to lower their eco footprint are: green roofs, rooftop gardens, solar panels, bike lanes, better public transit, water recycling, centralized recycling facilities, energy efficient heating and cooling systems for large buildings, reuse of building materials, changes to the workweek which reduce congestion, tougher air quality controls, permeable pavement, wind energy, and community service programs. Good examples of different stages of making a city sustainable are London, Seoul, and Curitiba. These cities might be sustainable but they have a large eco-footprint making people not completely happy. London and Seoul are cities which have a big eco-footprint, London having a bigger one out of the two. In the other hand Curitiba is a very sustainable city was a low eco-footprint. In he next paragraphs these cities will be compared, and I will give information about each city and their eco-footprint.

All cities mayor goal is to become as sustainable as possible. London as a no sustainable city has had and has lots of campaigns for people to help the city become sustainable. For example London has a 4 step plan for it to reduce its eco-footprint. The first step is to encourage people to stop using their own transport and use public transport or encourages walking and cycling. The red double-decker bus and the tube are recognisable worldwide. These are thing which make London unique. But Londoners, like the rest of the world also like cars, this made the city become blocked with cars. In 2003 Ken Livingston introduced the stick. It is an 8 charge on vehicles that are wishing to enter central London on weekday daytimes. The money earned from this would go to improve public transport especially buses. Also this money would go to improve public transport infrastructure. The department for Transport says 70,000 fewer cars in central London. There are 6% more bus journeys, 12% more bicycle trips. The 4 step plan continues with measuring Londons limits. The figures are:1. London used 876,000,000,000 litres of water, of which 28% was wasted in leaks.2. London consumed 6.9 million tonnes of food, of which 81% came from outside the UK.3. Londons ecological footprint is the size of Spain.

From his astonishing figures we see that London consumption of materials, water, energy and food are very high. We get that Londons ecological footprint is the size of Spain. Can you imagine that? Thats the sign of no sustainable city. Figures which are from the year 2000, are astounding. With this data London must fix their leaks on water and start becoming self-sufficient. 81% of the food consumed in London came from the outside. Not even its self-production of food can hold the amount of people in the city.Energy is very important in a city. Electricity help the city is controlled like traffic lights. London is making renewable energy possible and it is locally produced. The last step is to gain locally renewable energy for the city. The London array wind farm was the best idea they could come up with. This is not only renewable energy which can make the city work and have electricity, but it can also be a place for tourist to visit. Another innovation is the Merton rule. The rule simply insists that large, new developments meet 10% of their energy need from locally produced renewable energy. This might increase some cost on electricity but it is something which will push London into becoming more sustainable. Encouraging renewable energy which is locally produced.

In the other hand we have Curitiba. This city is the dream of many. Becoming and being a totally sustainable city. Why? Well this city has been built so every aspect of it is sustainable. Curitiba has the highest recycling rate in the world. Jaime Lerner the best-known man in this city built this amazing city. Having the aim of making his home sustainable and nice to live in. So Jaime told the poor people that if they recycled they would be given food and supplies. Now poor people often live out of that. They spend most of their time finding rubbish and things that can be recycled. Curitiba has bus system that is so god that car traffic decrease by 30% while the population trebled in a twenty year period. Jaime built the city with three main streets. There he putted a series of bus stops. This stops are very efficient having good exits for passengers and for the once which come in. The buses are efficient too. Having one bus every 5 minutes passing through a stop. Having enough space for 50 people in each bus. Curitiba has the largest downtown pedestrianized shopping area in the world. Lerner built every block with only pedestrian paths, so no car is allowed. This reduces co2 emissions hugely. Encouraging people 100% to walk or cycle. Curitiba has built large numbers of beautiful parks to control floods rather than concrete canals. So many that they use sheep to cut the grass as its cheaper than lawnmowers. Curitiba people had the problem of flooding when the rivers water increased. Jaime along with his associate built these series of parks to make the rivers water flood through them making it impossible to flood the city. The parks break the river and take the water into a series of paths which them lead into the river again. Curitiba is a city where 995 of inhabitant want to live. In comparison, 70% of Sao Paolos residents want to live in Curitiba. This is something which not many cities have the support of their people. 99% of the citys population like and enjoy living in Curitiba. The city is so well built that its sustainability makes people happy with it.In conclusion reducing your city eco footprint will improve everyone life in the city. As seen with London a growing and mayor city of the world is making every thing possible for it to become sustainable. In comparison with Curitiba which has been built with the idea of sustainability from the beginning. Londons progress is very good, and they should take by example Curitiba. Having some ideas from the city London can have more progress. But the problem is the huge population and consumption of water, food and materials. Its here where London has to think about. Overall its very good to have a sustainable city. Number one it is very enjoyable to live in, and secondly you can help the world become healthier. Reducing greenhouse gases and making global warming less.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sustainable-city.htm

http://www.citiesforpeople.net/london-4-steps-to-the-sustainable-city