Describe the fundamental differences between traditional urban planning and planning for sustainability
Broadly speaking, people's living conditions are dependent on the geographic location, surrounding and its general environment, therefore, the role of cities has risen significantly. The infrastructure and facilities of the cities shape our civilization and daily quality of life. Basically, a high pace of urbanization in many countries proved that an urban policy is a reasonable and important step towards improvement of all society segments’ living. A chaotic boom of urbanisation has already caused many problems, which require urgent interventions of policy-makers, public activists and city dwellers. It is becoming obvious now that both developed and developing countries need to set the vector towards urban sustainable development , although they demand different approaches and recommendations.
A gap between traditional urban planning and planning for sustainability is huge and requires constant efforts, investments and responsible decision making. But what has caused to turn away from traditional way to search for better solutions?
First of all, environmental hazard provoked to escalate the development of renewable energy resources instead of fossil fuel combustion (Yazar and Dede 2012). From one side, the scientists began to ring the bell worldwide about the high probability of the climate change due to the global warming, which may change our environmental conditions, rise the water level because of the ice melting, etc. They stated that the emerged danger has appeared because of the increased level of industrialization in the developed country and fast-growing Asian economies. The high rate of consumption in this countries led to emit a huge amount of greenhouse gases, which may deplete an ozone layer. Globally it was agreed to shorten the amount of allowed emissions by each country to a certain number, which may stop rising the temperature in the following decades. Therefore, it means that the city infrastructure and industrial facilities should correspond to the idea of decarbonized economy, so that a percent of alternative energy resources, such as wind and solar energy, would gradually offset the conventional energy resources, such as coal, gas and oil.
Traditional urban planning did not involve environmentally friendly measures to combat an emerging global warming issue (Network 1999). That is one of the main concerns and difference between traditional planning and sustainable approach. As it is known now, that public and private transportation, as well as industry, are the biggest contributors to the emission levels in the cities. The measures should be taking in facilitating the deployment of electrical vehicles or biofuel-based cars, which are already started to be promoted. In this way it is important to construct the necessary infrastructure like biogas pit stations, which need some extra financing flow. Another big consumer of energy resources in the cities is inefficient municipal, residential and commercial buildings, which need enormous energy supply for their heating and electrical supply purposes. Modern buildings do not require such amount of energy carriers, because urban sustainable planning involves thermal modernization of old buildings and using of appropriate materials in the newly constructed buildings.
Another big issue regarding sustainable development of the modern cities is a regulation of solid waste collection and deposit. In the conventional urban planning this question was unresolved and the decision was suspended in the air, especially it has risen into a disaster on the city level in the commercial sector, such as supermarkets, hotels, where much waste is created. Modern urban planning solves this issue by proper system of waste collection, its transportation and recycling. Moreover, soon more cities will keep a general practice of waste recycling into biogas production through anaerobic digestion. This new technique can be employed in the wastewater plants, where the resulting withdraw of the waste water does not harm the aquatorium of rivers and lakes in cities. Generally, all municipal service sectors should follow the urban sustainable plan in order to provide environmentally friendly living conditions of the city dwellers.
Traditional urban planning has encountered the problems of rapid urbanization and its outcomes (Habitat 2010). Due to the fast-growing city economies the residents of villages left their places in search for better fortune in the cities, where the industrialization provided youth with more opportunities for newly created jobs. That led to overpopulation of the cities and the danger of disappearance of some tiny villages at all. Poorer citizens settled down in the outskirts, where they used to receive worse living conditions as the citizens in the centre, who were mainly better off. By worse living conditions it is meaning that people didn't use the proper sanitation, water supply and city infrastructure.
Current situation with foreigners coming to settle down in the cities should also create the equality in the racial issue, giving the same opportunities and conditions regardless the origin. Normally, the sustainable cities facilitate new-comers to assimilate in the new environment, but also tolerate other cultural peculiarities, as well.
The troubles, which immigrants usually encounter in the new cities, are fully described by (Affairs 2013):
Further, international migrants working in low-skilled occupations have increasingly
joined the ranks of the poor in the main cities of both developed and developing
countries. Key industries and trades such as food production and processing, construction 66 World Economic and Social Survey 2013and repairs, buildings maintenance, taxi driving, the garment industry, household services, and agriculture often engage a significant share of immigrant workers. Frequently living in insecure and low-quality conditions in terms of housing and public services, many immigrants are undocumented and disenfranchised. In New York City and other cities in the United States of America, for example, unsafe labour conditions for many immigrant workers include working schedules of up to 60-72 hours per week and no social benefits such as health care and social security. (66)
The main features of the modern planning of the city sustainability is illustrated in Figure 1:
Figure 1 – Elements of the sustainable cities (Affairs 2013)
According to Figure 1 the principal difference between traditional urban planning and planning for sustainability is a complex approach in social and economic development, environmental management and urban governance. Currently the focus is put on the improvement of living standards for all the categories of city dwellers and development of the city infrastructure for further deployment of decarbonized economy and environmentally friendly technology.
References
Affairs, Department of Economic and Social. 2013. World Economic and Social Survey 2013 Sustainable Development Challenges. United Nations.
Habitat, UN. 2010. Planning sustainable cities: UN-Habitat Practices and Perspectives. Nairobi.
Network, Healthy Cities. 1999. "Towards a new planning process A guide to reorienting urban planning towards Local Agenda 21."
Yazar, KADIR HAKAN, and OKAN MURAT Dede. 2012. "Sustainable urban planning in developed countries: Lessons from Turkey." International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 7 (1):26-47.
