Sustainable Cities

Science for Sustainable Cities - Scientific American

Image: Scientific American

According to your book sustainable means “able to meet the current demand for a resource without depleting the future supply.” How do you think the concept of sustainability could be applied to urban areas?

16 Responses

  1. Josh says:

    To be a sustainable city, the region must be able to meet the demand for a resource (in this case that is a place for people to live and work), without depleting the future supply. In this situation, constructing cities is not going to deplete the needed resource, however, it can (and may) erase a different resource; nature. While the loss of nature would be devastating, it is preventable. If cities were to grow upward, rather than outward, the lad around them would still be able to provide for people. As population grows, cities grow. As cities grow, the amount of land able to be used to “fund” the cities is decreased. To make a sustainable city, People could:
    A) Put large gardens on top of every building and reap a good crop.
    B) Build cities underground (not very cost efficient).
    C) Build elevated cities (as in the picture).
    D) Build multi-story farms (with green house lights for the layers not on the
    top) so that if/when the cities do sprawl, we will still be able to have
    resources.
    Of all of the methods, the most efficient and effective way to make sustainable cities is to build them upward, instead of outward.

  2. Olivia says:

    Land is a resource that can be depleted without a future supply. That is why city should be building up, in the form of tall apartment buildings, instead of out in the form of suburbs and subdivisions. Building up can also free up space for parks and green spaces to promote health. Another way to build sustainably in an urban area is to use solar power, there is lots of space for solar panels on the tops of buildings. And turning empty lots into green spaces instead of wasting the space by letting it sit vacant.

  3. Frank says:

    To be sustainable you would need to get more resources as to would go up in demand and if you can’t meet it’s gonna fall apart. you could build a lot more community things so the city could help meet the demand. You could also save a lot more of the natural things around you.

  4. William says:

    Sustainability could be applied to urban areas by limiting how much someone can buy. Like during the beginning Covid-19 all the toilet paper was bought up, so the people had to limit how much 1 person could buy. If we did this our supplies would last a lot longer.

  5. Ally says:

    In relation to urban areas there needs to be a balance between wants and needs. If some people only wanted massive malls and free public transportation and tons of businesses to boost the economic status of the area then the need for national parks, green spaces and city gardens would be ignored. But on the flip side only having vast open areas could drive people away and the whole cycle would just start over again. So as long as there is a balance between humans and nature then sustainability may be attained.

  6. Raegan says:

    The building of cities requires the destruction of nature, an important and necessary resource. This loss of nature and natural areas could be prevented through more conscious planning and cities and how they will grow and expand. When cities expand outwards, they take up more space, which also causes the use of vehicles rather than walking or biking. Taking up more space also means that more natural area is depleted. Instead of taking up a wider area, cities could grow upwards, taking up more space upwards. As cities grow and expand, planners should make sure that the cities should incorporate nature and natural elements such as roof-top gardens, as well as incorporating more trees, shrubs, and other plants. This not only makes a city more attractive, but allows for both nature and cities to co-exist. Cities could also use more sustainable energy sources, like solar power or wind power, both of which are renewable. Overall, a balance between necessity and desires should be used when building cities, as people should keep in mind the effects the cities and developments have on nature.

  7. matthew says:

    Yes, I think the concept of sustainability could be applied to urban areas. There is an increasing demand for housing and roads and a decreasing amount of land for it. The best way to make urban areas more sustainable would be to build up and take less ground space. This would leave more space for current nature and future buildings.

  8. marchello says:

    I think sustainability in a city environment can apply more to jobs and housing as those always seem to be growing areas in a city as there always is room for more people which means more work itself in somewhat of a cycle and they often combat the loss of natural environment by having gardens and centers for helping the environment and having people go out and help where they can and they also focus a lot more on vertical housing like sky scrapers instead of just single small housing like in more rural areas and is a very defining feature if a city.

  9. Kyleisha says:

    The concept of sustainability could be applied to urban areas by allowing more public transportation rather than having so much cars on the street at once, as well as recycling, there could be multiple things to be reused. Public transportation and recycling can help the area economically, reduce poverty because not everyone is given access to clean water, or clothes, or even food, and recycling waste because water bottles can be reused, or just anything that is useful. When cities are more compact that leads them to be less sustainable due to how close they are, no room to grow crops, which is getting rid of the natural food supply in demand for money so the economy doesn’t fail. Also the people in poverty don’t have hundreds of resources to go to like one that isn’t in poverty, inclusion of every race no matter the money status would be great, but for now recycling waste could even help them tremendously just by giving them water. The picture above looks healthy, all of the trees are green, the building are higher rather than wider, which still allows them to have space to perhaps grow a crop.

  10. hailey says:

    I think in order to be more sustainable in urban areas is to start building upwards. We can have multi-story farms and green buildings without constructing outwards and damaging more of the forests and natural habitats. Building up would reduce the cost of materials and improve life quality.

  11. Caden says:

    Based on the definition of “able to meet the current demand for a resource without depleting the future supply” can mean one of two things either that the city is able to import resources at a sustainable rate that meets demands and does not deplete resources for at least the forcibly future or the second option and the one that I think is the one with the more resemblance to sustainability being that the city is able to make all of its resources at or near the main city which meet its demands.

    The second option is the one that would most correlate to an ideal sustainable city since it would not rely on any outside force for resources since all demands would be met by the city itself. For example if there was a river near the city they could use that for any water demands thus making that sustainable since water can go through the evaporation cycle. The only problem with this inter article is that sustainable also means that in the future the supply will not decrease so say there was a iron vein near the city they would be able to mine and use it but as the city expands they would eventually use it all and thus break the second part of the defination “without depleting the future supply” so even for the first option being that the resource was imported it would still be eventually depleted at the place of origin thus proving that any idea of a ideal sustainable city merely a concept and only parts of this system such as water can be considered sustainable for a time but eventually as the population grows so to would the demand so eventually the problem would be come that there is simply not enough water (or another seemingly sustainable resources) for everyone.

  12. Carlito says:

    Urban areas could be sustainable through the use of recycling. Like recycling paper, water bottles, pop cans, and whatever is recyclable. That could help with meeting demands without using too much of future resources. And the use of renewable energy could also play a part in keeping sustainability. Like using windmills and solar panels because they are less harmful to the environment.

  13. Maddox says:

    Sustainability can be applied to any urban area for example we as a community could make an agreement to buy only a certain amount of items. Cities remain sustainable through time thanks to the citizens in those cities and their communities.

  14. Glenn says:

    if cities reused abandoned home and work areas, Urban sprawl wouldn’t be as bad as it is now. It would keep farmers in business and if we started using less processed foods factories would produce less smog and keep the environment safe and make cars more eco friendly aka battery powered car i think the future can be better for all of us.

  15. alec says:

    Sustainability could be applied to urban areas. Because if you can make a designated process to keep things under control. You can do this by making a greenhouse dome for trees to be able to keep wood a thing that you will always have.

  16. Gaven says:

    The concept of sustainability can be applied to urban areas by investing money in individual water conservation, public transportation, and parks.

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