The Sustainable Cities and the point of No return of our Repositories - Dr.Arch./Ashraf Heagzy - ALDAR's Sustainability committee chairman .
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The Sustainable Cities and the point of No return of our Repositories . Dr.Arch./Ashraf Heagzy – ALDAR’s Sustainability committee chairman .
London, Paris, Tokyo, New York. If civilization needed an icon, “the city” would be it. Half of humanity now lives in urban areas, a figure heading for 75 percent in coming decades.
In 1900, only 13% of the world's population lived in cities. By 2050, that number will have
risen to 75%. We are adding the equivalent of seven New Yorks to the planet every year. If
there was ever a time to focus on the smart growth of our urban areas, that time is now.
Urban areas with at least one million inhabitants in 2006.
3% of the world's population lived in cities in 1800, rising to 47% at the end of the twentieth century.
As populations grow at a fast clip, they are placing greater demands on the city
infrastructures that deliver vital services such as transportation, healthcare, education and
public safety. Adding to the strain are ever-changing public demands for better education,
greener programmes, accessible government, affordable housing and more options for
senior citizens.
Just as cities provide a place for humans to live , so they destroy ecosystems and become
unfit habitats for the human spirit
World is facing a natural resources crisis
worse than financial crunch
•Few of us know exactly how our lifestyles affect our surroundings. The truth is,
everything you do that uses energy generated from burning fossil fuels causes carbon
dioxide to be released into the atmosphere. This raises temperatures, sparking off an
unpredictable chain of potentially disastrous reactions. Globally, we're currently
producing twice as much CO2 as nature can absorb and unless we make dramatic
changes to the way we live, very soon the climate change process will develop its own
momentum and become unstoppable.
CO2 emissions are not going to simply stop by itself
• Two planets need by 2030 at this rate, warns report
• Humans using 30% more resources than sustainable
Building Construction industry worldwide account for :
40% of Co2 Emission.(Global Climatic Crisis)
40% of energy consumption ( environmental pollution).
20% of fresh water Consumption (The New OIL of its future
Importance in the Region)
30% of Raw material usage (earth’s Resources depletion)
In North America, buildings and
urban infrastructure account
for 40 % of material
consumption and a third of
energy use. High-income cities
have an ecological footprint—
the dispersed area of land and
water required to supply their
needs and assimilate their
wastes—that is several
hundred times larger than their
political areas.
This is unfamiliar ground. Since World War II, politicians and planners have shaped cities with no regard for resource use or ecological concerns. Today’s land-grabbing, auto-dominated, fuel-inefficient metropolises have evolved into parasitic black holes, sucking in excessive megatons of energy and materials from all over the globe and spewing out volumes of (often toxic) waste
Earth is Shrinking
year
2050
2005 2030
1987 1.44 Hectares of land per
1950 2.02 1.69
1900 2.60 Capita
5.15
7.91
Cities may well confront a triple specter of climate change, scarcity of energy and resources,
and broken supply lines. Even the generally conservative U.S. National Intelligence Council
(NIC) recently predicted that global demand for energy, food and water could easily outstrip
supplies over the next decade or so, triggering trade-disrupting international conflicts.
Plant in state of emergency ,NOW :
Does anyone care???
As land and water become scarce, competition for these vital resources intensifies within
societies, particularly between the wealthy and those who are poor and dispossessed. The
shrinkage of life-supporting resources per person that comes with population growth is
threatening to drop the living standards of millions of people below the survival level, leading
to potentially unmanageable social tensions
Access to land is a prime source of social
tension. Expanding world population has
cut the grainland per person in half, from
0.23 hectares in 1950 to 0.10 hectares in
2007. One tenth of a hectare is half of a
building lot in an affluent U.S. suburb.
This ongoing shrinkage of grainland per person makes it difficult for the world’s farmers to
feed the 70 million people added to world population each year. The shrinkage in cropland
per person not only threatens livelihoods; in largely subsistence societies, it threatens
survival itself. Tensions within communities begin to build as landholdings shrink below that
needed for survival.
In New York city ,the consumption of electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and steam needed to operate buildings generates 79 percent of the city's total Co2 emissions . Buildings in cities often represent a city's worst culprits in contributing to overall consumption ,for Example Abu Dhabi Electricity consumption in 1966 was 3Megawatt ,but in 2004 is 7165 Megawatt!!!! For water desalination ,the capacity in Abu Dhabi was 4 million galloons /day in 1970 , and increased to 650 million gallons /day in 2004.
Point of No Return All this must change. Climate science indicates that to have even a chance of avoiding a catastrophic increase in mean global temperature, the worldwide economy must be largely decarbonized by 2050. The NIC argues that the U.S. should actually complete its transition by 2025. Such goals pose an unprecedented challenge to urban authorities at all levels.
Ice, Snow & Clouds NASA reported in The Greenland melt
stretch to the 2006 that the 2 adds about 200 of an
Horizon on inch to the Annual
miles thick ice
Greenland ice pack 0.12 inch rise in
on May 18th,2007. sheet covering the global sea level,
Greenland 4 times Greenland is should the entire ice
France size & seeing a faster sheet disappear –it
inhabited by 60.000 melt rate. would cause an
people,81% ice
estimate 23-Foot rise
covered.
in Global Sea Level
GREEN LAND IS MELTINGPoint of No Return
Over the previous 15 years
,Winter temperatures have
risen 9 Degrees F, on Ice
Cap, While Spring &
Autumn temperatures
increased by about 5
degrees.
The Glacier has been in
retreat, shedding ice as it
shrinks , rate doubled by
2002-2003,a very large
volume of ice moving
towards the Ocean.Point of No Return
Fishing Boats sail past icebergs on MAY
16th,2007 , because winter is no longer
cold enough to freeze it solid .
An Iceberg floats May 15,2007 ,Glaciers
around the world has been in retreats, it
is scary,,,,,,,Point of No Return
Fires set by ranchers clearing
forest for land burn is
defrosting Part of the Amazon
,Releasing Carbon Dioxide and
removing trees that would
absorb the Green House Gas.
Sea Level rise scenarios are
based largely on projections of
melting land-based glaciers and
ice sheets, scientist are trying to
figure out what might happen in
the next few decades.Point of No Return
Warming temperature are expected to
spread diseases more Quickly, AFRICA, is
likely to see more frequent outbreaks of
malaria ,since the Refugee camps
(Mozambique) make it easier for
mosquitoes to transmit malaria due to
its densely packed.
Australia is suffering its longest drought
on record, one that has shriveled up
reservoirs like these outside Perth since
1999.Point of No Return
Bleached Coral : Warming Seas Cause
Bleaching ,in 2005 Half the coral around
the U.S. Virgin Islands died after sea
temperature exceeded the norm for 3
months, Experts fear that half of all coral
around the world could be wiped out by
2030.
118 countries has been powered largely
by coal fired power plants.
Coal Power plants ,along with vehicles
,are major resources of carbon dioxide.The 15 Endangered Cities.
VENICE -ITALY TOKYO - JAPAN WENGEN-SWITZERLAND
NORTH WEST TERRITORIES
LONDON-ENGLAND MANHATTAN-NEW YORK HALONG BAY -VIETNMA
- CANADA
THE NETHERLANDS KENAI FJORDS NATIONAL PARK-ALASKA. MT.KILIMANJARO -TANZANIA
GREAT BARRIER REEF- AUSTRALIA
THE EVERGLADES-FLORIDA DALIAN - CHINA SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND FUNAFUTI-TUVALUSeem over the top? Perhaps. But our rethinking of cities must match the challenge. Scientists are deeply worried; you & I should be, too. If we can’t save our cities, we won’t save ourselves. THE CHALANGE
“Cities are crying out to happen."
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT = SUSTAINABLE CITY
The term sustainable development goes beyond the boundaries of science , business
development and trade to include human development, values, and differences in cultures.
SCIENCE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TRADE
"Sustainable community development is the ability to make development choices which
respect the relationship between the three "E's"-economy, ecology, and equity .
•Economy - Economic activity should serve the common good, be self-renewing, and build
local assets and self-reliance.
•Ecology - Human are part of nature, nature has limits, and communities are responsible
for protecting and building natural assets.
•Equity - The opportunity for full participation in all activities, benefits, and decision-
making of a society."The notion of sustainable urban form has its roots in the Garden City movement at the turn of the century. The garden cities of the 1900s and the ecological cities of the 1970s were proposed as alternatives to the pathology of modern urban form. The city must be made more vital, humane, efficient, beautiful, self-sufficient, and natural through a return to a more compact form, its impact on the environment must be decreased. These themes have re-emerged in the sustainable cities of the 1990s, advanced on behalf of future generations and planetary ecology .
Cities have become the focal points as major consumers and distributors of goods and services. However, many cities tend to be large consumers of goods and services, while draining resources out of external regions that they depend on. As a result of increasing consumption of resources, and growing dependencies on trade, the ecological impact of cities extends beyond their geographic locations. It has been recognized that the concept of sustainable development is an evolving, debatable term.
The City of Garbage Manshyiat Naser slum, commonly known as the City of Garbage, is located on the outskirts of Cairo. The inhabitants of Manshyiat Naser live on collecting and sorting out trash which is brought to the city by cart or truck. Their main work is to dig through a variety of garbage to retrieve what they can sell, recycle or use. It is estimated that about 80% is recycled and resold while organic waste is either processed into cattle food or burnt for fuel.
SUSTINABLE CITIES : TIME TO MAKE PEACE WITH THE PLANET.
In China 2 Billion square meters (21 billion sq. ft) of new buildings space is added every
year , making china the largest consumer of cement ,Steel ,brick and many other
building materials .
Installing just energy
efficient lighting could
save 1.5 billion barrels of
oil a year , or the Annual
output of 350 medium –
sized power stations.Without becoming isolationist, such bioregions would produce much of their own food, fiber and water and recycle their waste. By being less reliant on imports, they would be partially insulated from climate vagaries, global resource shortages and distant military conflicts. And because inhabitants would depend on local ecosystems, they would have a powerful incentive (currently absent) to manage their resources more sustainably. The aggregate effect would be global sustainability.
China's Plastic Bag Ban Will Save 37 Million Barrels of Oil 30-8-2008 China has never been considered an environmental role model. Given a population of 1.3 billion, unprecedented carbon emissions and a slew of recent lead-toy scandals, many would say the country stands as a — if not the — prime example of environmental failure. Yet, in a bolt from the blue, it looks like the red has embraced green. Yesterday, China’s State Council put a nationwide ban on plastic bags. The cabinet has demanded all stores (from major supermarkets to small shops) go plastic bag-free after June 1. According to the Daily Mail, China uses more plastic bags than any other country. China squanders 37 million barrels of crude oil on plastic bag production every year. The nationwide ban will no doubt help correct China’s tarnished image, especially before the Beijing Olympic Games.
Smart City + Sustainable city = Eco City
SMART CITY :The use of Modern Technology in everyday Urban life.
A smart City is a well performing in a forward-looking way in 6 characteristics, built on the
“SMART” combination of endowments and activities of self –decisive ,independent and
aware citizens.
SMART ECONONMY SMART PEOPLE
SMART GOVERNANCE SMART MOBILITY
SMART ENVIROMENT SMART LIVINGSMART ECONONMY
Ability to transform.
Productivity .
Innovative Spirit
Flexibility of Labor market.
Entrepreneurship .
International Embeddings .
Economic Image & TrademarksSMART PEOPLE
(Social and Human Capital )
Flexibility .
Level of Qualification .
Cosmopolitanism / Open mindedness.
Affinity to life long learning .
Creativity .
Participation in public life .
Social and ethnic plurality .SMART Governance
( Participation )
Participation in decision - making.
Public and Social Services .
Transparent Governance.
Political Strategies & perspectives .SMART MOBILITY
( Transport / Information and Communication technology )
Local Accessibility
Inter- national accessibility.
Availability of ICT – Infrastructure .
Sustainable , Innovative and safe transport systems .SMART ENVIROMENT
( Natural Resources )
Attractive of Natural conditions .
Pollution .
Environmental protection .
Sustainable resource management .SMART LIVING
( Quality of life )
Individual safety .
Housing Quality .
Education Facilities .
Social Cohesion .
Health conditions .
Cultural facilities . Touristic attractively .Why Sustainable cities?
Benefits of sustainable City Improve health and mental well-being. Improve environmental quality, e.g. better air and water quality, local climate control and noise attenuation. Promote a sense of community. Help reduce crime, Fear of crime & anti social behavior. Crime in New York City has dropped 27% since 2001, Smarter cities fight crime by capturing data. Provide opportunity for exercise, sport, active recreation, spiritual well being and quiet contemplation. Improve health as a result of increased activity such as walking. Provide community resources for learning and training. Provide opportunities for community involvement. Provide a leisure focus and attraction for people of all ages from the existing and the growth communities.
Benefits of sustainable City Help establish local identity or sense of place. Contribute to sustainable drainage and flood mitigation. Provide the Opportunity to protect, recreate and rehabilitate landscapes and habitats damaged or lost by previous development or agricultural change. Help Maintain and Enhance Biodiversity. Contribute to the Protection, management and enhancement of historic and natural sites and areas. Improve and Sustain Land Value. Reduce Land management Cost. Provide an enhanced environmental backdrop that will assist in attracting business and inward investment.
Abu Dhabi Goes Green 10 years ago perhaps ,certain corners of the world may never heard of Abu Dhabi, but in more recent years , Abu Dhabi has emerged as the “One to Watch” Abu Dhabi plans ensure that the capital has a bright , long future ahead. As the first major hydrocarbon –producing economy to take such step , Abu Dhabi has established its leadership position by launching the MASDAR imitative , a global cooperative platform for the open engagement in the search for solutions to some of mankind's ‘s most pressing issues :Energy security, Climate change and the development of human expertise in sustainability.
In April 2006 ,Abu Dhabi took a bold and historic decision to embrace renewable and sustainable energy technologies •Masdar city – Abu Dhabi : as Pilot model uses the potential of renewable energy in the region & promoting the use of Energy derived from sources other than hydrocarbons, for reasons of efficiency, reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and the scarcity of supply.
China envisions environmentally friendly 'eco-city' In three years, the island's black-faced spoonbills and other rare birds will share this migratory stop with 25,000 humans, the initial inhabitants of what developers call the world's first "eco-city.“ If Dongtan Eco-City opens on schedule, it will become a carbon-neutral urban showcase at about the same moment scientists foresee China surpassing the United States as the globe's leading emitter of greenhouse gases.
Simply, it is only “ ONE WORLD ” to live on it .
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