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Green guide to guidelines for sustainable cities
This article explores a guide to ecological cities encompassing a number of functions and needs that is represented in 12ecological guidelines that can be established as key points in the construction of the characteristics of the sustainable cities based on a report called"12 GREEN GUIDELINES".
The document developed by CDBC’s (International Advisory Group for Green and Smart) defines some rules or regulations for smart urban development at all levels.
These ecological indicators They are divided into three large groups: The urban form, transport and energy, and the resources that concisely describe the bases of the sustainable city… How to design more sustainable cities?
Green guide for sustainable cities:
Three important sections divide the document with the following orientations:
- The Urban Form: Identification of the urban growth limit, development oriented to transport through the DOT concept, small blocks, public green spaces.
- Transport: Non-motorized transport, public transport, car control.
- Energy and Resources: Green buildings, renovation and distribution of energy, waste management, water efficiency.
Although the baseline report is divided by each ecological guideline in: A justification, explanation of the economic, environmental and social benefits, a short case study and a list of the best practices implemented.
Due to the size of the report, we are interested in focusing on the justification of the possibleecological standards established for sustainable cities and your goals.
Ecological guidelines in urban form
Urban Growth Limit - Compact Cities
Each city must establish a urban growth limit (UGB = Urban Growth Boundary). The limit should be established on the basis of a rigorous analysis of the ecological sensitivities, the capacity of the environment, and the efficiency or productivity of the various land uses. A more compact development, that is compact cities, has direct benefits as we can see in the image:
Impact of urban density on carbon emissions, and the length of water pipes or roads (Source: World Bank).
They are a tool to achieve compact development of the sustainable city, which helps to create conditions conducive to shorter trips and greater efficiency in transportation (Increases the efficiency of public infrastructure in all its aspects), in walking or cycling. In addition to protecting agricultural land, disorderly development and reduces air pollution.
Graph from The New Climate Economy on Atlanta and Barcelona, similar populations but different levels of carbon emissions. This strategy can also increase the value of the built environment with rising housing costs that can be offset by lower transportation costs. (See also urban landscapes where the urban growth of 10 cities is compared)
Transportation Oriented Development. DOT cities
A basic ecological guideline es addresses growth that maximizes the benefits of public transportation, while strongly emphasizing its users, the people. Public transportation should be the preferred means of transportation for both long and short distance trips.
Increasing the density of people who work and live around transport stations is one of the best ways to make public transport more effective, so concrete rules and easy access points to public transport should be established.
To understand more and go into more detail, we already made a specific article about Dot City where we tried to reel off all the points of interest and more ecological measures that can be taken with reference to the movement of vehicles in cities.
Mixed uses
According to ecological guide, all Residential units must be close to at least six types of services within a radius of 500 meters from the entrance of the residential building (Services: schools, post offices, banks, rentals, clinics, activity centers, restaurants, etc.).
The worker-resident relationship (The number of working people divided by the number of residents) it must be between 0.5 and 0.7. Configured within a spatial area that should not be more than 15 km2 to improve the sustainable city.
Small blocks.
The blocks must be less than or equal to 2 hectares and 70% of the blocks mustcomply with this standard. Exceptions for industrial zones. The small blocks they are the essential element of an efficient urban transport network. They create a dense mesh of narrow streets and paths that are more pedestrian friendly.
They create a variety of public spaces, architectures, and activities, increasing the vibrancy of the neighborhood. With "Superblocks", all the traffic is concentrated in some main avenues. The net result is traffic congestion.
The wide streets also create obstacles to the movement of pedestrians, thus favoring more drivers. Designing sustainable metropolis!
These two graphs show the success of the use of small blocks combined with mixed use in the city.
Green public spaces
Publicly, according to ecological indicators accessible and usable green space it must comprise between 20-40% of the urban built area (Residential areas must have a larger coverage). All residences must have an accessible public space within 500 meters.
Within urbanism, large public spaces allow a diverse group of people to live together, creating economic vitality and increasing property values.
The Public spacesit can give neighborhoods identity and a sense of place, which is vital to building community and improving quality of life. High levels of density can cause urban areas ecological are intuited as uncomfortable or tight spaces.
Ecological guidelines for transport
Non-motorized traffic
There should be connected areas for pedestrians of at least 10 km in length for each urban square kilometer, without architectural barriers. Cycling routes of at least 10 km long per square kilometer in urban areas.
The ecological orientation established in the world's most attractive cities emphasize thepedestrian environment on a human scale. No pollution occurs, while providing human health benefits. Dense walking and cycling nets allow for more efficient commuting, making neighborhood people happier and healthier.
A New York study confirms that sales increase considerably when space is increased on pedestrian and bicycle lanes.
Public transport
All new urban actions when urbanizing must be within a radius of 500 meters from a bus or public transport station. For the city as a whole, at least 90% of the evolution must be within a radius of 800 meters from a public transport station.
Making public transport accessible is a first-class option, one of the best ways to reduce dependence on the car on the Metropolitan area. If public transportation is a first-class option, people often choose not to drive.
Other benefits, among them, is the increase in the price of the house as can be seen in the following graph:
Car control
Within the ecological guidelines each city must have a strategy for vehicle control and its parking lot is undoubtedly coupled with quality public transportation. The economic, environmental, health, clean air, etc. cost plays a fundamental role here.
In the following graph we can see the social costs in variation of transport models:
Green guidelines on energy and resources
Green buildings
In the so-called «Green architecture« there must be policies and ecological standards coherent that require a minimum ratio of buildings that contain some standard qualification according to urban profile. (Let's remember the urban profile article that we introduced ourselves to energy consumption)
As investors and residents understand the importance of the environmental and social impacts of greener buildings, increase the possibilities before a commercialization of greener buildings.
See more in the article analysis of sustainable construction.
Renewal and distribution of energy
With the application of sustainable and coherent measures in the population a 30 to 50 percent reduction in primary energy consumption is possible in a city. Here technology plays a fundamental role and economic measures and items must be applied to act decisively in the metropolis of the future.
Waste management
All buildings should have facilities for Waste sorting. All household waste must be selected. The collection of hazardous waste must be a priority. At least 30-50% of the waste must be composted and 35-50% recycled or reused.
The circular economy plays an important role in sustainable cities:
Efficiency in water
All the city buildings They should have 100% adoption of water saving devices. In the green spaces that surround the buildings, plants that require low water consumption should be adopted.
All drinking water should be controlled and at least 20-30% of the water supply should be recycled from any of the wastewater and rainwater.
This graph shows that the technologies applied to water efficiency are profitable and therefore we must take initiatives that enact this facet for the benefit of all.
Reference report«12 GREEN GUIDELINES» developed by CDBC’s (International Advisory Group for Green and Smart)… HERE
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