The destiny of mankind is closely linked to the success or failure of human settlements. Many cities and towns have existed continuously for thousand of years. Others have turned into deserts. They collapsed after destroying the local environments from which they drew their resources, or following a social disaster or war. We must learn lessons from history and make sure that our cities are socially just, economically viable and environmentally sustainable. A sustainable approach with balanced social, environmental and financial development is the only answer for future cities. According to United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2012 Urban population growth is expected to continue setting the pace of world population growth, and in the next 10-15 years, for the first time in history, the world rural population is expected to decline. Globally, a net 1.3 billion people were added to small urban centers during 1950-2010, more than double the number of people added in medium (632 million) or large urban centers (570 million). And the predicted population trends to 2050 are as follows:
(Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs)
With the global urban population explosion, numerous challenges threaten the ability of cities to become viable pillars of sustainable development. Unequal access to, and inefficient use of, public services, as well as financial fragility and the harm inflicted by natural hazards, demand an integrated and coordinated response at the local, national and international levels.
Sustainable city key features
People move towards cities for a comfortable life, jobs, education, or other reasons such as natural inhabitants whose lands get swallowed by the city growth etc. The growth could never be balanced. To balance the overall growth the future cities will need to cater for the following:
- Social or Human development index improvement, i.e. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic (composite index) of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators. Providing quality education, health, safety, security and mobility will contribute to the social sustainability of a city.
- Environmental development: Optimizing use of natural resources such as water, land, forests, etc. and reducing water, air, sound and visual (cleanliness) pollution is the main indicator of an environmental sustainability. Efficient built environment, material use, waste recycle & reduction will be major contributors in sustainable city growth.
- Financial sustainability: Social and Environment, sustainability will contribute towards healthy population, reduced natural disasters, educated population, future jobs in a green economy and thus will improve the financial sustainability of an urban development. New and innovative technologies and business ideas will develop and growing population will get jobs and entrepreneurial ideas.
The future challenges of our survival and growth will depend upon how we design and develop our habitat. Otherwise the lessons taught by the history will go waste and we shall be constructing for our own destruction.
