Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
others, then massive changes in the extent of sustainability would occur, even with-
out building large numbers of new settlements like Masdar. Such projects are prob-
ably best seen as model entities, demonstrating what can be done, like the Garden
Cities of the past. Hopefully they encourage imitators to adopt some of the many
sustainable practices being pioneered, either in new settlements or in revitalizing
old ones, which will lead to a better future, through the redevelopment of exiting
settlements rather than hoping for the wholesale addition of new eco-towns
67
Conclusions
This review has shown the range of new initiatives that have been implemented in
urban settlements in the search for a more sustainable future for towns and cities, es-
pecially in the past two decades. However, there have been great variations in their
application and co-ordination, let alone their efficiency and effectiveness. Most cit-
ies, even in the developed world, have only adopted a few of the possible initiatives,
which is a depressing situation, given that many new proven technologies can be
applied. The projected increase in urban places provides an unprecedented opportu-
nity to restructure the way settlements are built to increase sustainability, especially
mitigation of climate warming, a point made by one of the committees of the IPCC
2014
:
The next two decades present a window of opportunity for mitigation in urban areas, as a
large portion of the world's urban areas will be developed during this period…. Mitiga-
tion options in urban areas vary by urbanization trajectories and are expected to be most
effective when policy instruments are bundled… Effective mitigation strategies involve
packages of mutually reinforcing policies, including co-locating high residential with high
employment densities, achieving high diversity and integration of land uses, increasing
accessibility and investing in public transport and other demand management measures.
(IPCC Working Group III, April 2014, p. 26)
The initiatives described in this review represent a promising, if slow beginning in
many places. Yet most experts believe the implementation of these policies need to
be need to be significantly ramped up in all cities if real success is to be achieved,
especially to solve the problems associated with an increasing greenhouse gas pro-
portion and the dangers of future resource depletion in oil and other finite resources.
These are not problems that can be ignored because they represent some far-off
times. Many will have impacts within the lifetime of people already born. So there
is a pressing need for action. Unfortunately, too many government actions are predi-
cated on short-term considerations linked to electoral cycles, so the will to engage in
comprehensive long-term sustainable planning is limited. Moreover, the low impact
of these individual sustainable policies has revealed several key elements that need
to be more successfully addressed if more comprehensive sustainable practices are
to be created in greater numbers of towns and cities.
First, the
scale and variety of the problems
involved in making towns and cities
more sustainable, through the policies described in this and the previous chapter,
means that no single policy approach, or a single source of implementation, will
