Concrete jungles, bustling streets, and glittering skyscrapers- cities are the heartbeat of our modern world. They are the ecosystems of human life, culture, and innovations. Today, 4 billion people live in cities. By 2050, around 70% of the world’s population will live in cities and in 30 years it will be 8 billion people. Due to this steady growth, it is of great importance to rethink the concept of urbanization and redesign cities in the best way possible.
Every year, since 2013, we celebrate the World Cities Day on the 31st of October to reflect on challenges, share ideas and work on developing urban life. The goal is to implement the Sustainable Development Goal 11, which includes making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. This year the World Cities Day falls under the theme “Financing sustainable urban future for all”. Therefore, the concentration lies on the investment in urban development.
The word “sustainability” is essential when it comes to rethinking urban life. The concept includes lots of green spaces, reducing air pollution, enhancing air quality, and protecting natural resources. These aspects lead to a healthy environment in cities and enhance the general living experience in urban areas.
Cities need to develop eco-friendly public transit systems and facilitate navigation by foot or bicycle to reduce air pollution. Due to access to green spaces, diverse ecosystems can be supported, and they can have a positive impact on the mental health of citizens. Moreover, implementing green architecture is a significant step toward lowering greenhouse gas and reducing resources. With the usage of natural building materials and solar panels, we can make urban life more sustainable.
Implementing all those aspects can be challenging for cities. One reason for that is the lack of resources. Because of limited materials and tools, communities often cannot pursue these projects. Other difficulties can appear on a political level. Some political actors create problems when it comes to collaborating and implementing projects.
In addition to that, those sustainable implementations can be extremely expensive, and many cities have problems with financing these transformations.
Despite those challenges, there exist various plans for purpose-built city projects all over the world. Humans want to design cities that work perfectly for everyone while creating solutions for issues that have appeared in other areas.
One of those projects is the city “Telosa”. It should be built in the desert between Arizona and Nevada. By 2030 the city should have 50 000 residents. In the utopian city, everything will be accessible by foot or public transportation. Not only is it meant to be sustainable and modern, but also diverse. Moreover, residents of “Telosa” will be able to directly influence political decisions in order to achieve equality.
Another utopian city is “The Line” in Saudi Arabia. It is one big building that has a mirrored facade to reflect solar radiation and avoid heat in the building. The city is meant to include swimming pools, gardens, a stadium, and a general green environment. They are planning to make everything reachable by foot within a few minutes. Additionally, there will be
underground transportation for longer distances. Although the city seems to be perfect, it is criticized a lot because the residents will be tracked by AI, so a high level of technology is included everywhere in “The Line”.
In the end, no one knows if those purpose-planned cities will work out and if they can bring the whole urban life to a new level or if they are going to fail because people do not want to live in a fully planned city.
In conclusion, there are many ways to make the world’s cities more sustainable, although we must face loads of challenges when implementing those ideas. But also we, as citizens, can contribute to an eco-friendly urban life. If we support local businesses, use public transportation or bicycles instead of cars, try to keep the city clean as well as recycle our waste, we can already change the cities’ environments a lot.
Every year, since 2013, we celebrate the World Cities Day on the 31st of October to reflect on challenges, share ideas and work on developing urban life. The goal is to implement the Sustainable Development Goal 11, which includes making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. This year the World Cities Day falls under the theme “Financing sustainable urban future for all”. Therefore, the concentration lies on the investment in urban development.
The word “sustainability” is essential when it comes to rethinking urban life. The concept includes lots of green spaces, reducing air pollution, enhancing air quality, and protecting natural resources. These aspects lead to a healthy environment in cities and enhance the general living experience in urban areas.
Cities need to develop eco-friendly public transit systems and facilitate navigation by foot or bicycle to reduce air pollution. Due to access to green spaces, diverse ecosystems can be supported, and they can have a positive impact on the mental health of citizens. Moreover, implementing green architecture is a significant step toward lowering greenhouse gas and reducing resources. With the usage of natural building materials and solar panels, we can make urban life more sustainable.
Implementing all those aspects can be challenging for cities. One reason for that is the lack of resources. Because of limited materials and tools, communities often cannot pursue these projects. Other difficulties can appear on a political level. Some political actors create problems when it comes to collaborating and implementing projects.
In addition to that, those sustainable implementations can be extremely expensive, and many cities have problems with financing these transformations.
Despite those challenges, there exist various plans for purpose-built city projects all over the world. Humans want to design cities that work perfectly for everyone while creating solutions for issues that have appeared in other areas.
One of those projects is the city “Telosa”. It should be built in the desert between Arizona and Nevada. By 2030 the city should have 50 000 residents. In the utopian city, everything will be accessible by foot or public transportation. Not only is it meant to be sustainable and modern, but also diverse. Moreover, residents of “Telosa” will be able to directly influence political decisions in order to achieve equality.
Another utopian city is “The Line” in Saudi Arabia. It is one big building that has a mirrored facade to reflect solar radiation and avoid heat in the building. The city is meant to include swimming pools, gardens, a stadium, and a general green environment. They are planning to make everything reachable by foot within a few minutes. Additionally, there will be
underground transportation for longer distances. Although the city seems to be perfect, it is criticized a lot because the residents will be tracked by AI, so a high level of technology is included everywhere in “The Line”.
In the end, no one knows if those purpose-planned cities will work out and if they can bring the whole urban life to a new level or if they are going to fail because people do not want to live in a fully planned city.
In conclusion, there are many ways to make the world’s cities more sustainable, although we must face loads of challenges when implementing those ideas. But also we, as citizens, can contribute to an eco-friendly urban life. If we support local businesses, use public transportation or bicycles instead of cars, try to keep the city clean as well as recycle our waste, we can already change the cities’ environments a lot.
Alina Weilguny
Alina is an Austrian volunteer involved in the World Cities Day.
