What characteristics should a sustainable city have?
Sustainable cities and communities of the 21st century integrate care for the environment into their development. These are their most important characteristics:
Sustainable cities around the world
Driving more sustainable urban development
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Cities around the world are growing at a rapid pace. Since 2007, more than half of the world's population lives in cities and 70 out of every 100 people are expected to live in urban centers in the near future. Metropolitan areas have the potential to mark a new era of development, but the challenge for these cities of the future is to do so in a sustainable way, promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all, maintaining environmental quality, and preserving social balance in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
What is a sustainable city?
Sustainable cities are cities that reduce the environmental footprint of their activities and promote sustainable consumption and production patterns, in line with their geographic, social, economic, and cultural characteristics.
Among their goals is the care for the environment and the well-being of their inhabitants by promoting sustainable mobility, creating green spaces, reducing greenhouse gases, using renewable energy, and driving the circular economy.
Climate change is a global phenomenon that is closely related to the model of cities we'll build for the future. The concentration of people and economic activities has enormous advantages, but if sustainability and resilience criteria are not applied, it can lead to environments where the quality of life of citizens is affected. In this regard, the UN notes that cities, despite occupying only 3% of the Earth’s surface, account on average for 70% of global energy consumption and are responsible for emitting 75% of carbon emissions.
What characteristics should a sustainable city have?
Sustainable cities and communities of the 21st century integrate care for the environment into their development. These are their most important characteristics:
The quality of life of its inhabitants has high levels of satisfaction: a good health system, access to education, environmentally friendly, and efficient transportation, etc.
It offers a variety of large, comfortable, and fresh green spaces for the enjoyment of all residents.
Most of its industries and services supply a large part of their electricity needs from renewable energy.
Both companies and households apply criteria of sustainability and circular economy such as reducing, reusing, and recycling.
The most sustainable cities in the world: Ten examples to follow
Among them are the 10 most important sustainable cities in the world for their ability to combine sustainability and growth.
Throughout the planet, we can find examples of sustainable cities. Smart cities that are committed to efficient technologies that allow them to become eco-cities that respect the environment and people. In 2022, Arcadis, one of the world’s leading ecodesign and natural and built heritage design and consulting firms, conducted a study to assess which cities are the most sustainable in the world.
There are several metrics it was based on, but all of them converge in three basic pillars closely aligned with the UN SDGs: social, environmental, and economic. From there, a total of one hundred cities emerged, each in its own way marking the way forward for green cities.
The cities included in this report are those that reinvest the profits obtained from social services and policies into environmental actions to improve the quality of life of their inhabitants and that are taking a long path towards sustainability, such is the case of Stockholm, Tokyo and Amsterdam, which make a repeat appearance after the 2018 ranking.