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Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only. www.brucenixon.com Chapter 13 - Sustainable cities, towns and communities - localisation vs. globalisation; hi tech vs. low tech - positive models – many good things are happening June 2009 Creating sustainable cities, towns and communities All truth passes through three stages. First, it’s ridiculed. Second, it’s violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer Cities and towns are now the major human habitat In 2007, the Earth became an urban planet, more than half its population living in cities. By 2060, over 60% of the population will live in cities. Of the 2.2bn increase in population forecast by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), 2.1bn will live in urban areas. Already in UK, 90% of us live in urban places. People like living in cities. “Cities are good for us”, as Harley Sherlock said in his valuable book of that title but only if they are designed for people, not just for the benefit developers. Young people, especially, like cities because of the buzz, the excitement, the diverse opportunities for work as well as abundant social and leisure pursuits. Older people like them too. That said, many cities produce huge social problems, pollution, gross inequalities, poverty and lack of opportunity. In many ways, cities are more sustainable than other places. The issue is to make cities more sustainable. Towns are basically mini-cities and the same principles apply. In the following section, I am indebted to the Ecologist special issue Sustainable cities- rethinking sustainable building for many insights. What is a Sustainable City? In his book Creating Sustainable Cities Herbert Girardet describes his vision of cities for people: Cities for People Involve the whole person – mind, spirit and body Place long-term stewardship above short-term satisfaction Ensure justice and fairness informed by civic responsibility Identify the appropriate scale of viable human activities Encourage diversity within the unity of a given community Develop the precautionary principles, anticipating the effects of our actions Ensure that our use of resources does not diminish the living environment (Adapted from Girardet, H, 1999, Creating Sustainable Cities, Green Books) 176
Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only. www.brucenixon.com His superbly illustrated CitiesPeoplePlanet - Liveable Cities for a Sustainable World is a “must read” for anyone wishing to help create a sustainable city, town, district, village, neighbourhood or community. Another inspiration is Richard Rogers’s vision, abbreviated here: The Sustainable City A Just City A Beautiful City A Creative City An Ecological City A City of Easy Contact and Mobility A Compact and Polycentric City A Diverse City Adapted from Rogers, R, 1998, Cities for a Small Planet A Polycentric City is one with multiple centres - main centres or sub centres or both. That is one of the attractions of London with its villages. The same principle needs to apply to towns beyond a certain size, i.e. beyond what is a comfortable walking distance for people of most if not all ages. We know intuitively what a sustainable city is. We sense “spirit of place.” Sustainable cities and towns are the places we want to live in, be young in, bring up our family in, create a business in, work in, retire to, visit or go to for a holiday. Some, like Ludlow, are expensive because of their desirability. Incidentally, despite many protests, Ludlow citizens were unable to stop Tesco from spoiling part of their town, endangering what makes it attractive. Others like Llandidloes in Wales are not expensive, particularly if they do not have a railway station. Living in such places often means a lot of driving. They are communities offering the characteristics mentioned in Happy Planet indexes. They give a sense of well-being, partly because so much is uniquely local; partly because they are places people are proud of, where they are aware of their roots and their past. The scale is human and there is texture, craftsmanship and art in buildings and pride in manual achievements. Local materials and traditions add to their uniqueness. People want to live in places that are alive and good for people of all ages, not ghettos for any group in society, where there is an exciting variety of good building from various periods including modern. Such cities are very much lived in, not full of great ugly blocks resembling fortresses built to exploit the location and make the maximum profit, not dreadful ugly areas from which nature has been excluded and people feel alienated. There are individual shops and places to eat, rather than international chains, contributing to, rather than extracting wealth from, the local economy. They are cities for people, not for cars and big noisy vehicles. You can tell: people look happier. You can see it in their faces. Amongst many examples are Brighton, Barcelona, Edinburgh and Montpellier. People enjoy themselves outside, sometimes in gardens in the middle of wide streets or tucked into unexpected corners. Fitness classes are held in the central square of Montpellier. They have sustainable transport systems, trams in Montpellier, cycle lanes and cycles to borrow or hire in Bristol and Barcelona. They are good to walk and live in. They have markets, good local food, mixtures of old and new. I think of smaller places in Italy like Lucca 177
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