The Sustainable City

How could someone possibly make something as large as a city sustainable? Think about it: a sustainable city must unify social, environmental and economic aspects, all the while remaining viable - and it must work for everyone. Not every person in the community will have the same desires, so if you want people to live there, you must meet the needs of as many people as possible. However, most people don’t think about the design of a city in their everyday lives, especially if it is designed well. People tend to spend more time complaining about things than complimenting things or realizing how easy something makes their lives. So to have a city that is socially, environmentally and economically sustainable will come without protest. On the other hand, it may be difficult to try and implement a sustainable system in an already existing city.



http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org

I think of a sustainable city as somewhere that provides a nice area to live in, is close to school or work, and is near a grocery store. And to be a little selfish, I think it should also provide places for entertainment. However, entertainment does not have to be dinner and a movie, it can, more importantly, be walking and biking trails, places to swim, and places to have a picnic or get-together. In my opinion, this is the key to sustainable communities – dividing the city into smaller communities so that none of the patrons must travel far on a daily basis. I go everywhere on my bike, even for groceries, and it’s not as hard as I would have thought. I actually like it because I get exercise without even trying. Then, if there are times when I feel like getting out, I can go downtown. This makes going downtown a treat (not a burden because I commute there everyday in traffic jams).

There are many ways in which we can develop sustainable communities. I, myself, would get confused as to the planning aspects and remembering all of the things that should be incorporated. Jamie Lerner and William McDonough didn’t get confused though. They are taking the right approach towards developing sustainable cities. Watch these two TED talks about the concepts these men have developed for communities and you’ll understand what I mean. 



http://www.ted.com/talks/browse

Jamie Lerner
William McDonough

There are so many innovative, intelligent, and most importantly, achievable ideas for sustainable communities. Who wouldn’t want to live in cities like that? It’s a wonder why we are having a difficult time implementing it into our own lives when the ideas are already laid out for us. Maybe because we have complicated the idea of sustainable communities – stating what needs to be done and coming up with ways to do it, but never quite putting anything into action. I think we should all be more like Jamie and William, and remember that actions speak louder than words.