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Approximately 55% of the total population of the entire planet lives in a city (data provided by the World Bank and the United Nations, (2022). Urban population (% of the total)[1]). The management of resources, waste and energy around a huge and limited population in a small space, with difficult access to various ecosystem services, becomes especially important if we want to conserve our environment and work for the quality of life in our cities. At Ecologist Verde we help you understand what is urban ecology and we give you some tips to detect and apply it.
What is urban ecology - definition
The urban ecology can be defined as the discipline that study the interrelations between the inhabitants of an urban agglomeration and their interactions with the environment. We are going to see some of the most important fields that it deals with:
- Analysis of the urban structure: The structure that our cities have is decisive for planning management, and specifically environmental management. For example, the inclusion of green spaces in cities helps reduce air pollution and conserve different species. Likewise, the proximity of an airport to the city will result in air and noise pollution.
- Flows of matter and energy: this point is especially important. The city is dependent on the environment both for the import of energy (it can be reduced with self-consumption), raw materials and products and for the export of waste. Having a good network that takes care of supply and waste management is essential.
- Environmental impacts: a city has multiple environmental impacts, such as consumption of matter and energy in all its forms, land occupation, generation of waste, discharges and air pollution, noise and light pollution … a large city becomes a very harmful entity for the environment . In these other Green Ecologist posts we explain what a negative and positive environmental impact is with examples and what an environmental impact study is.
- Multifaceted criteria for management: the management of a city in a green way must take into account not only that it is respectful with the environment and the urban renewal itself, but also criteria of social inclusion.
Treatment of urban waste or garbage
The treatment of MSW or urban solid waste it is of vital importance for cities. All households (not counting those with surrounding industrial estates, which also generate similar to urban waste) generate a large amount of solid waste of different types: paper and cardboard, containers, glass, plastics, organic waste, batteries, expired medicines … in Ultimately, tons of waste. Each of these fractions must be collected, separated and disposed of according to its nature.
most of waste collection systems in Europe they include the so-called "separation at source", or asking the waste generator to classify them according to type. This is how we find the yellow containers for packaging, the blue ones for paper and cardboard … in addition to the clean points, in which the citizen must discard everything that does not fit in the usual containers.
However, there are other more effective methods to reduce the consumption of raw materials in cities:
- The first of these is the substitution of single-use containers and plastics for multiple-use ones.
- Buying in bulk can be a good alternative, as well as substituting plastic wrap for paper or other materials.
- Always reduce and reuse before recycling.
On the other hand, there are so-called deposit systems. In this case, the consumer pays an additional amount for the packaging, which is reimbursed when the packaging is returned to the person who sold the product. For example, in supermarkets in Germany or Sweden a small fee called "Pfand" or "Pant" is paid for PET bottles (bottles of water and other liquids). In the same supermarket there is a machine that automatically reads the barcode on the bottle. When the consumer passes all his empty bottles through the machine, it generates a discount ticket for the amount of the returned bottles and which is used for all the products of the establishment itself.
Speaking of MSW, we cannot ignore the concept of valuation. Valuation refers to any type of use of waste. Recovery can refer to recycling, or "energy recovery", in which the heat generated by the incineration of waste is used for industrial processes or to generate electricity. It is not the best solution, but there is a lot of waste that cannot be treated in any other way, either due to the capacity of the plants themselves or due to their nature.
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Green cities and smart cities
The green cities and the smart cities They try to be managed in a more environmentally friendly and more efficient way in terms of management, for which they tend to rely on high doses of technology.
Among these initiatives we find cities like Pamplona, which due to its small size do not require extreme technology to organize in a more environmentally friendly way. For example, reducing traffic in the city center has been sufficient to achieve air quality targets.
At the other extreme we would find Neom, a megacity under construction in Saudi Arabia, which plans to incorporate all the technological and environmental advances into its structure. Although this does not mean that the construction itself is particularly respectful, it is possible that it will serve as an example for the adaptation of many other cities.
Here you can learn more Examples of smart cities in the world.
If you want to read more articles similar to What is urban ecology, we recommend that you enter our category of Other ecology.
References- World Bank. (2022). Urban population (% of the total). United Nations, Prospects for World Urbanization.
