The Sustainable City

OpenStax-CNX module: m44935 1

The Sustainable City∗

Eugene Goldfarb

This work is produced by OpenStax-CNX and licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0†

Abstract

In this module, the following topics will be addressed: 1) a pro�le of the sustainable city, 2) technol-ogy's in�uence on the form and pattern of the sustainable city, 3) the connections between the designof our cities and resource use, 4) sharing the earth's bounty with all of the earth's inhabitants, 5) thealteration of one's lifestyle in order to live more sustainably.

1 Learning Objectives

After reading this module, students should be able to

• imagine what a sustainable city will look like and what it will mean to live in one• understand how technology will in�uence the form and pattern of the sustainable city• explore the connections between the design of our cities and resource use• recognize that sustainability means we will have to share the earth's bounty with all of the earth's

inhabitants• think about how one's lifestyle will have to be altered in order to live more sustainably

∗Version 1.2: Sep 10, 2012 7:24 pm -0500†http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

http://cnx.org/content/m44935/1.2/


Figure 1

2 Introduction

Sustainability, from science to philosophy to lifestyle, �nds expression in the way we shape our cities. Citiesare not just a collection of structures, but rather groups of people living di�erent lifestyles together. Whenwe ask if a lifestyle is sustainable, we're asking if it can endure. Some archaeologists posit that environmentalimbalance doomed many failed ancient civilizations.

What could the sustainable city look like, how would it function, and how can we avoid an imbalancethat will lead to the collapse of our material civilization? This module will make some educated guessesbased upon the ideas and practices of some of today's bold innovators.

Throughout history settlement patterns have been set by technology and commerce. Civilizations haveproduced food, clothing and shelter, and accessed foreign markets to purchase and sell goods. Workerstraditionally had to live near their place of occupation, although in modern industrial times advancedtransportation systems have enabled us to live quite a distance from where we work.



In hindsight we can see how reliance on water and horse-drawn transportation shaped historical civiliza-tions and how this equation was radically altered with the rise of the automobile following World War II.While attempting to envision the �Sustainable City� we must discern what factors will in�uence its shapeand form in the future.

3 Energy

For the last century energy has been a�ordable and plentiful, limited mainly by our technological ability touse it. Contemporary civilization consumes 474 exajoules (474×1018 J=132,000 TWh). This is equivalentto an average annual power consumption rate of 15 terawatts (1.504×1013 W).

The potential for renewable energy is: solar energy 1,600 EJ (444,000 TWh), wind power 600 EJ (167,000Wh), geothermal energy 500 EJ (139,000 TWh), biomass 250 EJ (70,000 TWh), hydropower 50 EJ (14,000

TWh) and ocean energy 1 EJ (280 TWh).1

Even though it is possible to meet all of our present energy needswith renewables, we do not do so because the way in which the market prices our fossil reserves. In thecurrent framework, when a company exploits resources it normally does not account for the loss of resourcebase or for environmental damage. Gasoline has been cheap in the United States because its price does notre�ect the cost of smog, acid rain, and their subsequent e�ects on health and the environment

let alone recognize that the oil reserves are being depleted. Scientists are working on fusion nuclearenergy; if that puzzle is solved energy will be a�ordable, plentiful and carbon neutral. See Environmentaland Resource Economics2 and Sustainable Energy Systems3 for more detail.

4 Materials & Waste

Scientists are producing materials not previously known to nature with unpredictable e�ects on bio-systems.Some, such as dioxin, are highly toxic; others (e.g. xenoestrogens4 - which act as endocrine disruptors)have more subtle e�ects. In the future the government will likely continue to expand its regulation of theproduction, use and disposal of chemicals. Even heretofore benign processes, such as the production ofgarbage and greenhouse gases, will probably need to be controlled as civilization exceeds the capacity ofnatural systems to absorb and recycle our waste products.

Recycling and composting will reduce waste streams and �material exchanges� will take waste from onegroup and transfer it e�ciently to others, thus reducing trash volume. Chicago's Rebuilding Exchange5 ,for instance, allows donors to take a tax deduction while it chargers buyers a greatly reduced fee to reusematerials that would otherwise be sent to the land�ll. Although the Rebuilding Exchange is a physicallocation, similar material exchanges could be virtual as they connect seller/donors to buyers/users online.Old land�lls might be mined as raw material use by a larger developed world (the addition of Asia's billions)creates demand while technology drives down the cost of extraction. These modern economic realities, alongwith the arrival of useful technology, represent the rise of collaborative consumption6 .

Long before modern lighting and HVAC systems were developed, buildings relied upon natural light andventilation. With support from a growing body of science supporting the public health bene�ts, contemporarydesigners are rediscovering the role biophilia � the human a�nity for nature � plays in the spaces we occupy.When adjacent to residential areas, green spaces have been shown to create neighborhoods with fewer violentand property crimes and where neighbors tend to support and protect one another.

Studies have shown that natural daylight increases commercial salesand green schools improve test scores. Biomimicry is also part of the green revolution. The idea behind biomimicry is that nature has already

solved many of the challenges that face us. One example is the development of new friction-free surfaces,

2"Environmental and Resource Economics - Chapter Introduction" <http://cnx.org/content/m38598/latest/>3"Sustainable Energy Systems - Chapter Introduction" <http://cnx.org/content/m41724/latest/>4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenoestrogen5http://www.rebuildingexchange.org/6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_consumption



modeled on the slippery skin of the Arabian Peninsula's sand�sh lizard, an advance that could eliminatethe use of ball bearings in many products as well as industrial diamond dust in automobile air bags. Thepearl oyster uses carbon dioxide to construct its calcium carbonate shell, so a Canadian company developeda technology that reduces large amounts of CO2 in cement production. 300,000 buildings in Europe useself-cleaning glass that mimics the way water balls up on lotus leaves and simply rolls o�.

In the future, we should see more of a return to natural systems as well as the use of new materials thatmimic nature in our sustainable city.

5 Social Equity

Perhaps the most signi�cant development that separates sustainability from its conservation antecedents isthe element of social equity. The environmental and conservation movements have been criticized in the pastfor being too "white collar" and promoting the interests of the �haves�; these movements have traditionallynot dealt with the needs of the underclass in the U.S. and, especially, developing countries. In Agenda217 , the manifesto of the Earth Summit8 conference on the environment held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992,sustainable development was viewed as the strategy that would be needed to increase the basic standard ofliving of the world's expanding population without unnecessarily depleting our �nite natural resources andfurther degrading the environment upon which we all depend.

The challenge, as viewed at the Earth Summit, was posed in terms of asking humanity to collectivelystep back from the brink of environmental collapse and, at the same time, lift its poorest members up to thelevel of basic human health and dignity.

The concept of ecological footprint asks each of us to limit resource use to our equitable share. Sittingon the apex of civilization the Western world is being asked to share the earth's bounty with the massesof Asia, South America and Africa. If technology continues to advance we can do this without signi�cantlong-term degradation of our standard of living. Short-term economic dislocations are inevitable, however,as increasing demand from China and India bring us to peak oil and rising transportation costs will highlightthe nexus between location e�ciency and a�ordable housing. The Center for Neighborhood Technology9 ,for instance, has mapped 337 metropolitan areas10 covering 80% of the United States population showinghow e�cient (near mass transit) locations reduce the cost of living (housing + utilities transportation) andvice versa. The reality of rising transportation costs could have a signi�cant impact on the shape of the city.Lookin target-id="targetid"g backward we also realize that racial politics were one of the dynamics thatfueled suburban expansion in the 50's and 60's decimating many of our urban centers. The Sustainable Cityof the future, if it works, will have stably integrated mixed income neighborhoods.

6 Technology

Computers brought intelligence to the Machine Age and transformed it into the Information Age. Marketsrun on information and better information will help the markets perform more e�ciently. Whereas inthe past surrogate measures were developed to guess at impacts, information technology can track actualuse. For example, do we charge everyone the same fee for water and sewers or do we measure their use,charge proportionally, and thus encourage landowners to reduce their use? In Miami the (congestion pricing)charge for driving in the special lanes goes up instantaneously with actual tra�c conditions. As the old adagegoes, �What gets measured gets managed,� and as technology increases the precision to which environmentalmeasures, consumption, and behavior increases, our ability to manage, and therefore reduce negative impacts,will increase.

In the past humans have been one of the beasts of burden and workers have been needed to produce andmove goods. Modern factories reduce human labour needs and arti�cial intelligence will soon carry most of

7http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Summit9http://www.cnt.org/

10http://htaindex.cnt.org/



the load in our partnership with machines. In the Information Age humans should no longer have to liveand work near the factories and centers of commerce and jobs will move from the production of goods tothe provision of services. People may choose to live in exciting urban centers, but if one wants a bucolic lifestyle telework will o�er an alternative.

7 Shrinking Cities

Many American cities have declined in population from highs immediately following World War II, evenas the host metropolitan area has continued to grow. While populations have declined poverty and othersocial problems have been concentrated.

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In the United States, nearly 5,000,000 acres of vacant property(including brown�elds) exist. This is equivalent to the combined land area of the nation's 60 largest cities.



Figure 2

The traditional planning approach has been to focus on managing growth and new development throughtime-honored tools such as comprehensive planning, zoning, subdivision regulations, and urban growth



boundaries.Central City Revitalization.� Journal of the American Planning Association, 69(4), 381-396.This growth-oriented approach to addressing the shrinking city is now criticized.Cantz VerlagSome commentators postulate that green infrastructure o�ers a better model for improving these cities

health.How could these factors manifest themselves in our sustainable city? They will in�uence its design and

our settlement patterns will in�uence our lifestyles. You are not only what you eat but also where you live.For instance:

8 Transportation

Most agree that walkability is a key component of any sustainable neighborhood. Walkability not onlyreduces energy use, but also increases public health. How can we measure walkability? Walkscore.com12

identi�es and measures nearby amenities and provides a rating for speci�c locations and neighborhoods. Tryit for where you live.

Sustainable cities could consist of walkable neighborhoods that separate pedestrian, bike and vehiculartra�c and are connected to each other through multiple transportation modes, with biking and mass transitchoices in addition to the automobile. Instead of averaging 10 (auto) trips per unit per day

most residents would not use an automobile daily and instead walk or bike or order online. Trip generationwould be reduced through telework and ecommerce. Goods would be brought to residents in bulk deliverytrucks using services like UPS, Fedex and Peapod. Under telework many would only visit an o�ce to attendmeetings once or twice a week (or less). Streets and intersections would be made less daunting to pedestriansthrough tra�c calming techniques.

12http://www.walkscore.com/



Figure 3: Walkable Neighborhood Picture shows a bike path in Chapinero, Bogotá. Source: Tequen-damia (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.013] via Wikimedia Commons14

Most trips to other parts of the city would be made via mass transit. When an individual car is need itwould be provided through car sharing, or taxis. Much to the dismay of science �ction fans, �ying cars soundnice but it is di�cult to see how they can be sustainable until a non-polluting, renewable energy source forair travel is obtained. Tra�c congestion would be relieved not through arti�cial subsidies (overbuilding roadsand providing free parking) but through congestion pricing, removal of free street parking, and providingviable bicycle and mass transit alternatives.

Even rural centers could be planned as concentrated walkable neighborhoods with viable transportationoptions. Telework, e-commerce and low impact cluster development would enable residents to enjoycountry living without a guilty conscience. Think in terms of a kibbutz (collective farm) where most membersdo not own their own cars and rarely have to use this type of transportation.

Cities will continue to draw entrepreneurs and foster productivity.Most of the population will reside in mega-regions and linking them through high-speed rail that connects

to mass transit will be the key to long-term economic growth.

13http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/14http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AChapinero_bike_path.JPG



9 Water

Traditional approaches have sought to rapidly move stormwater away from what we've built via gutters,sewers and arti�cial channels. While this approach on the micro scale is intended to prevent local �oodingand undesired ponding, on the macro scale it may actually cause area wide �ooding. It also short-circuitsthe opportunity for water to naturally soak into the ground � to water plants and recharge groundwaterresources

, and, with traditional planting of lawns and other exotics, necessitates bringing more water in forirrigation.

Best water management practices for sustainable cities would include:

• Green Roofs• Downspouts, Rain Barrels and Cisterns• Permeable Paving• Natural Landscaping• Filter Strips• Bioin�ltration using: Rain Gardens• Drainage Swales• Naturalized Detention Basins



Figure 4: Green Roof The green roof of City Hall in Chicago, Illinois Source: TonyTheTiger [CC-BY-SA-3.015] via Wikimedia Commons16

These features are discussed in more detail in the Module Sustainable Stormwater Management17. Thesustainable city would recharge its local aquifer and surface water would �ow primarily from groundwaterand not storm water discharge. Instead of charging a �at tax for storm and sanitary sewer services, technologyallows districts to charge usage fees based upon volume, thus providing a �nancial incentive for sustainabledesign. Governmental bodies could use these tools to encourage the reorientation and designers could usethe techniques outlined above as divert stormwater into the ground rather than directly into surface water.

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Working together, local government and project planners could also retro�t older urban streets withattractive walkable streetscapes, just as Lansing, Michigan has done as part of its combined sewer over�owproject

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(below).Some visionaries see even more dramatic transformations in the way we deal with water. Sarah Dunn

15http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.016http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AChicago_City_Hall_green_roof_edit.jpg17"Sustainable Stormwater Management" <http://cnx.org/content/m42716/latest/>



and Martin Felsen of Urbanlab20 envision Chicago's evolution into a model city for �growing water21 � bycreating a series of Eco-Boulevards that function as a giant Living Machine � treating the city's waste andstorm water naturally, using micro-organisms, small invertebrates such as snails, �sh, and plants. Undertheir plan treated water would be returned to the Great Lakes Basin and create a closed water loop withinChicago, instead of being exported to the Mississippi and Gulf Coast.

10 Food

The ancients would wonder at modern supermarkets with their food from all over the world and fresh fruitsand vegetables all year round. Yet most environmental activists advocate locally produced organic food.Peak oil will raise petrochemical costs and upset the dynamics of modern agriculture, but it will be di�cultto change the acquired tastes of the consuming public.

USEPA is encouraging urban agriculture as one of the solutions to the shrinking city.It sees urban agriculture as not only providing a use for vacant land, (thus addressing blight and the

deleterious a�ect of neglect on property values) but also as a potential cleanup strategy for contamination.It addresses the problem of food deserts (lack of healthy, a�ordable, fresh produce) in blighted inner cityneighborhoods while educating children and adults about farming and local enterprise. Practitioners havefound that urban farming enhances social capital and community connections. Victory gardens producedabout 40% of American vegetables consumed during World War II

and urban gardens could be a prime user of the compost that we could generate either through individualcompost bins or through collective e�orts performed on a large scale by our waste haulers.

20http://www.urbanlab.com/21http://www.urbanlab.com/h2o/



Figure 5: Urban Agriculture Some new crops being started, protected by shade cloth barriers tothe west. Note the new construction in the background. This area used to be all public housing. Thehigh rise "warehouses of the poor" were torn down and are being replaced with mix of market-rate andlow-income housing (also called mixed income housing.) The 1.5 acre parcel that City Farm sits on isowned by the City of Chicago and provided, rent-free, to this non-pro�t initiative. The property is valuedat $8 million, however, so it's anyone's guess as to when the city decides to terminate the agreementand City Farm must move again. Source: Linda from Chicago, USA (New crops) [CC-BY-2.022] viaWikimedia Commons23

Many of us might belong to food cooperatives where the members contract with organic farmers topurchase the food grown for them.

In Sustainable Cities farming will not just be an interim land use in blighted neighborhoods but, likePrairie Crossing in Grayslake, Illinois24 , will be an integral part of the community plan. Some even forecastvertical farming25 in the great cities of the world.

22http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.023http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ANew_crops-Chicago_urban_farm.jpg24http://www.prairiecrossing.com/farm/index.php25http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/vertical-farming-can-urban-agriculture-feed-a-hungry-world-a-775754.html



11 Buildings & Neighborhoods

Americans have come a long way from the pioneer one room log cabin and crowded immigrant tenement. Theaverage American house size has more than doubled since the 1950s and now stands at 2,349 square feet.

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Sustainability will probably mean more e�cient use of smaller homes, and McMansions might becomemulti-family dwellings, putting pressure on local ordinances and home association rules.

Figure 6: McMansions Home with large garage and short driveway depth taking up a large amountof street frontage. Also evident: several cheaply installed neoclassical elements, a brick facade, no sidewindows, and poorly proportioned windows on the front. Source: John Delano of Hammond, Indiana[CC027] via Wikimedia Commons28

Second (& third) homes? The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University showed a dramaticrise in vacation homes, from 3.1 million such units in the 1990 Census to over 6 million in the HousingVacancy Survey ten years later.

If we want to equitably share the world's resources with emerging markets we'll have to �gure out howto manage this desire to spend time in more than one place in a more conservative manner. Time-sharingaddresses this need, as does the (still) growing hotel and vacation resort industry.

Homes use about 23% of all energy in the United States.

27http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en28http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McMansion,_Munster,_Indiana.JPG



In the future many of our homes will generate their own power (See Case Study: A Net-Zero Energy

Home in Urbana, Illinois29). Today ultra-e�cient homes combine state-of-the-art, energy-e�cient con-struction and appliances with commercially available renewable energy systems, such as solar water heatingand solar electricity, so that the net energy use is zero or even less than zero (positive energy production).

There have been e�orts since the 70's oil crisis to promote (mandatory) energy codes, but voluntarye�orts such as Energy Star and LEED are the ones that have made substantial headway.

LEED� Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a voluntary e�ort by the U.S. Green Building Council, includes more than energy and also gives points for site, water, materials and resources, and indoor air

quality. LEED in particular and sustainable construction in general have found widespread acceptance aseven the National Association of Homebuilders has rolled out its own version of green construction

. Since its inception in 1998, the U.S. Green Building Council has grown to encompass more than 10,000projects in the United States and 117 countries covering 8 billion square feet of construction space and inApril, 2011 LEED certi�ed its 10,000th home in its LEED for Homes program

. The U.S government's General Services Administration (GSA), the part of the federal government thatbuilds and manages federal space, currently requires LEED Gold certi�cation for all of its new buildings (upfrom Silver).

In addition to using fewer resources sustainable buildings reduce absenteeism, improve employee morale,and lead to improved educational performance.

In the Paci�c Northwest the International Living Future Institute has set up a Living Building Challengeto go beyond LEED and design and build triple net zero (storm water, energy, wastewater) structures. Asof Fall 2010 there were 70 registered projects

.What about the neighborhoods where we live and raise our families? Many now recognize that our

grandparents' mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods were more sustainable than today's reality. The Congressfor New Urbanism

promotes mixed use in contrast to its predecessor, Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM),which promoted separation of use. CIAM, active in the �rst part of the 20th century, proposed that thesocial problems faced by cities could be resolved by strict functional segregation, and the distribution of thepopulation into tall apartment blocks at widely spaced intervals.

This view found its expression in Le Corbusier's The Radiant City (1935). Separation of Use heavilyin�uenced subdivision and building codes that, in turn, shaped Post World War II suburban expansion. Inour suburbs zoning dictates mutually exclusive uses in each district so that Industrial use is exclusive ofcommercial, which is exclusive of residential. In the suburbs separation of use combined with the platting ofsuperblocks to replace the traditional grid network gives us a lifestyle that produces 10 auto trips per unitper day, because you need one car per driver to get around where much of America lives.

CIAM's view also formed the intellectual underpinning for large-scale high-rise public housing projects.Today we recognize that safe, sound and sanitary housing is not just indoor plumbing and more bedrooms,and that a�ordable housing is not just rent but includes utility and transportation costs and the right to livein a safe, mixed income, stably integrated neighborhood. Our sustainable city should stand upon the leg ofsocial equity and include ethnic and income diversity. Neighborhoods should be sited at e�cient locations

with broad transportation choices. What will they look like? Most new urbanists think they will besimilar to the diverse neighborhoods built at the turn of the last century. Other visionaries, such as MosheSafdie, think it possible to integrate the variety and diversity of scattered private homes with the economicsand density of a modern apartment building. Modular, interlocking concrete forms in Safdie's Expo '67de�ned the space. The project was designed to create a�ordable housing with close but private quarters,each equipped with a garden. In a di�erent vein, in outlying Grayslake, Illinois, cluster development thatincorporates open space, wetlands, and a working organic farm enables residents to live (somewhat) sus-tainably in the country. Our future must recognize that we don't want everyone to live in Manhattan or

29"Case Study: A Net-Zero Energy Home in Urbana, Illinois" <http://cnx.org/content/m44455/latest/>



Brooklyn, and we must provide for diverse tastes and lifestyles.Will everything look futuristic, like the sets of Blade Runner or Star Wars? Historic Buildings not

only have a special charm but they represent a great deal of embodied energy that is wasted if they aredemolished. The government and marketplace will probably continue to promote historic rehab, includingadaptive reuse where new uses are found for old buildings through rehab that installs modern utilities and�xtures while preserving the outer shell's look and feel. In Chicago the Sears Powerhouse was converted to acharter school and in Philadelphia Urban Out�tters took the old Navy Yard and transformed it into a newcorporate headquarters. In all �ve of the former Navy Yard buildings, employees work in light-�lled interiorswith open layouts. Most of the furnishings are custom-made and contain recycled material (tabletops craftedfrom salvaged wood, for instance). Amenities such as a gym, yoga studio, dog park, and farmers' marketfurther add to the lively and informal atmosphere.

All of these gestures to what the CEO calls �a quality of life thing� help Urban Out�tters boost employeesatisfaction. Since moving into the new headquarters, employee turnover has dropped to 11 percent, and fewersick days are being used. �They feel more linked to the community and culture of the company.� The campushas improved his company's ability to attract new talent. The informal atmosphere is alluring to Millennial-aged employees, who tend to value open, �exible work arrangements more than previous generations ofworkers. �The campus has improved creative collaboration, which ultimately impacts our bottom line.�

12 Work and Commuting

In the past we had to live near the places where we built things and conducted our business. The factories ofthe industrial revolution demanded labor, and packed the exploited workforce in nearby tenement housing.Today intelligent machines perform most of the work in manufacturing our goods and moving them fromplace to place. In the Information Age most tasks can be performed anywhere within reach of the WorldWide Web. In Understanding Media Marshall McLuhan showed how �improved roads and transport havereversed the ancient pattern and made cities the centers of work and the country the place of leisure and ofrecreation.

� The new reality once again reverses roles by locating the factories on vast campuses away from thepeople and, the city becomes a place to meet, be entertained and educated. Sustainable Cities of the futurewill probably still function as the center for service industries such as health and beauty care, hospitality,tourism, travel, and government, and other service industries, such as insurance, advertising and marketing,and �nancial services, are amenable to telework. Sure, we can eat our frozen dinners and get TV or on lineentertainment at home, but it's still enjoyable to go out to eat and catch a live show, concert, sporting eventor movie. We get a better view of the players on television, but the excitement of thousands of fans underone roof is palpable. Many of us in the postindustrial Information Age will not have to live near ourfactories, power plants or transportation centers, because we just have to connect to the World Wide Web.In the Information Age many of us might never have to attend physical meetings, but those of us who domight �nd ourselves going to the o�ce only a few times a month. But it is important for those who toutcities as more sustainable places to live (i.e. Cities pollute less per capita

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) to understand that rural areascan be just as benign as cities if one has the will and controls resource use with the appropriate life style.Communal farms, for example, generally have small ecological footprints, producing more resources thanthey consume.



Figure 7: Telecommuting Source: Gilangre� (Own work) [CC031] via Wikimedia Commons32

31http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en32http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATelecommuting_di_kafe.jpg



13 Power

Today huge plants generate electricity from coal (44.9%), natural gas (23.8%), atomic energy (19.6%),hydroelectric (6.2%), and other renewable (e.g. wind, solar) (4%) sources.

Power a�ects urban form in that urban centers must be connected to the grid, and the ubiquitous powerline tethers us to the power plant. Sustainable cities will probably not lose the grid, but should accommodatethose who want to produce their own power by running the meter backwards. Until and unless atomic fusionsupplies cheap, safe, reliable power, renewables will compete with fossil fuels. Even as we hit peak oil, coalwill be plentiful for the foreseeable future. Coal will continue to be cheap because its price will probably notre�ect all the costs of smog, acid rain, and its subsequent e�ects on health and the environment

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let alonerecognize that the reserves are being depleted. As the technology evolves and as government policy requiresutilities to buy power from small decentralized sources we will all get used to wind mills and photovoltaicarrays. Geothermal heat pumps will heat and cool space more e�ciently. Zoning and building codes willhave to be revised to deal with solar access rights, noise from windmills and odors from biomass and biofuels.

Figure 8: Windmills Source: James McCauley from Enon, OH, United States of America (Flickr)[CC-BY-2.034], via Wikimedia Commons35

34http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.035http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Windmills.jpg



Figure 9: Local wind generator, Spain, 2010 Source: By Patrick Charpiat (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.036] via Wikimedia Commons37



Technology will also enable us to operate more e�ciently. One of the problems with conventional powergeneration is that the plants must be (over)sized to accommodate peak loads. In the future the �SmartGrid� should smooth peak loads by instructing consumer appliances to perform tasks, such as laundry anddishwashing, in low demand periods (middle of the night), and will o�er lower rates as an incentive.

Figure 10: Microgrids A local microgrid in Sendai, Japan Source: See page for author [Public domain],via Wikimedia Commons38

14 Commerce

Our parents and grandparents have seen dramatic change in the area of commerce. Until 1950 we walked tothe neighborhood store and most of the goods we bought were produced locally. On special occasions you'dtake the trolley downtown to the central business district (CBD) to visit the large department stores (e.g.Marshall Fields in Chicago, Macy's in New York). With the suburbanization following World War II CBD'swere replaced by suburban malls. We drove to the malls. The CBD's died out. For the last thirty years bigbox chains have dominated retail, but most recently ecommerce entices consumers with better selection andprices (and sometimes no sales tax). Most of us �nd that we shop online more e�ciently and those that need

36http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.037http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AWindgen59.JPG38http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMicrogrid.jpg



the personal attention that retail establishments currently o�er might �nd that they will have to engage theservices of a personal shopper (note the shift from good to service). Most of the goods we purchase, evenfood, have been produced somewhere else. World trade, as measured in US dollars at current prices, hasgrown astronomically, from $10.1 billion in 1900

, to $62 billion in 1950, to $15.2 trillion in 2010. US imports and exports have risen from $1.4 billion(exports) in 1900 to $9.6/10.3 billion in 1950 and to $1.97/1.28 trillion in 2010.

In our Sustainable City of the Future ecommerce will probably rule, which will mean a reduction in actualphysical commercial �oor area. When we feel we need to see something in person we will visit centralizedshowrooms, and pay for that service, but most purchases will be made on line and the product deliveredeither by company delivery vehicles (e.g. Peapod) or through common carriers (e.g. UPS, Fedex). New useswill be found for dead malls.

Neighborhood stores will fare better in walkable neighborhoods, especially those that o�er services inplace of or in addition to goods.

It is unreasonable for us to expect to obtain all of our goods locally, but regional specialization in theproduction of goods will re�ect climate, access to raw materials and markets, and locally developed expertiserather than cheap labor and the ability to avoid environmental and workplace safety regulations. Modernrobots do not have to follow repetitive assembly line logic of repeated application of the same exact setof instructions. They can be programmed to intelligently consider each individual product and thus canproduce a wider variety of products, and many products will be special ordered to �t individual tastes. Oncewe even out the playing �eld (of necessary government regulation to deal with the externalities of production)the cost of shipping should work towards more local production. Goods will be made �just in time�

thus reducing inventories and overproduction that is sent to land�lls. E�ciency will be a big part of theSustainable City.

Planned obsolescence and its impact upon material culture is more problematic. Fashion de�es logic butspeaks to the most basic instincts of human behavior. How do we avoid the need for more closet space,let alone o�site storage? New materials will enable us to change the look and feel of clothing. Advances incrystal technology, for example, will allow us to change its color and/or pattern.

Interlocking parts using material similar to Velcro could let us change lapels, sleeves and other componentsof garments, much as we now add or subtract liners for warmth. More complicated goods will be designedfor disassembly and recycling,

or replacement of key parts while keeping most of the old components. Retro�t can add life to oldbuildings and machines, if we learn to view old and retro as cool and in.

A good example of how we can move towards sustainability is provided by Interface, which repositionedtheir carpeting business from the sale of goods to the leasing of �oor covering services. Under the oldparadigm the consumer purchased a new carpet a few years after the old one began to show wear. Theselection was based upon the perception that the carpet would last (e.g. because it felt thicker), but thereality was that the carpet manufacturer made out better when new carpets had to be repurchased morefrequently. Under the new leasing paradigm the manufacturer owns the carpet and therefore it is in theirbest interest to have it last longer. Interface's Solenium lasts four times longer and uses 40% less materialthan ordinary carpets, an 86% reduction in materials intensity. When marketed as �oor covering servicesunder its Evergreen Lease, modular �oor tiles are replaced as soon as they show any wear and, since 80% ofwear takes place on 20% of the area, this reduces material intensity by another 80%. In other words, 3%ofthe materials are used under the new paradigm (yes, a 97% reduction) than the old one. And the worn out

panels are recycled, and no chlorine or other toxic materials are used in its manufacture.39

15 Education

Our children will �nd their place in tomorrow's workplace based upon their brains, not brawn. Education isthe most important component in preparing for tomorrow's workplace. Classrooms today link via televisionand the internet to amazing resources. More importantly, arti�cial intelligence has the capacity to treat



each student as an individual and to tailor instruction to meet his or her individual abilities and needs, incontrast to the classroom that moves, at best, at the speed of the average student.

Figure 11: E-Learning A ubiquitous-learning(u-learning) classroom where students use electronictextbooks in the form of tablet PCs. Source: By B.C. (Own work) [CC-BY-3.040] via Wikimedia Com-mons41

The sustainable school should still contain classrooms, but it will probably be supplemented by individ-ualized computer learning labs. Each student would have their own personal computer (see Cyborgean Manbelow) that would link them to the internet. Classrooms would have multi-media capabilities that wouldlink to other classrooms around the world. Webinars would make expert instruction available to all. Asnoted earlier, the biophilia of green classrooms would improve learning and test scores.

16 Cyborgean Man & Big Brother

In his book �Understanding Media � The Extensions of Man� Marshall McLuhan explains how once mancreates an extension of himself, let's say writing, he both gains (the ability to remember more in his records)and loses (not being able to remember as much without these written records) abilities.

40http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.041http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AElearnroom.jpg



Horse drawn carriages and automobiles enable man to travel faster and further even as his body gainsweight and loses muscle tone. Tents, tepees and igloos enable man to migrate from the primordial forest

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to inhospitable climates, but man, like the tortoise, must lug this shell of material civilization around withhim.

Miniaturization in the Computer Age now promises to let us reinternalize some of the external abilitieswe've created. Over ten years ago Thad Starner, a research assistant at MITs media lab, garnered a lot ofpublicity by calling himself a cyborg because he incorporated his computer monitor into his glasses, and lethis keyboard and computer hang as appendages by his side.

Today half the civilized world has smartphones that link us via the Facebook, the World Wide Web,texts and tweets. In our sustainable city we could all be wired, possibly though implants directly into outbrainstem. Arti�cial intelligence could provide a virtual butler that would be available to schedule andkeep track of our appointments, order our groceries and other items, and help us with things we can't evenimagine today. Advertising would be directed at us individually, as in Philip Dick's Minority Report

, as advertisers use software like doubleclickand links to national databases (see Big Brother below) to track who we are and our buying preferences.

This should be good for sustainability, as there will be no need to hoard things for possible future use, andto discard them when we no longer need them. Government would �nd it easier to poll citizen's preferencesand opinions.



Figure 12: Cyborgean Man Source: PIX-JOCKEY (Roberto Rizzato)http://www.�ickr.com/photos/rizzato/2342959844/43

In George Orwell's 1984 everyone is constantly reminded, �Big Brother is watching you.�In our sustainable city everyone will be watching everyone else. Video surveillance webcams might be

everywhere, and everyone would have access to them. Everyone could have a reality show in which thosewanting to follow you would merely tune into the appropriate URL and be able to choose the cameras andmicrophones that are in range. Some people would not even turn o� the feeds, ever. Arti�cial intelligence (oractual humans for the more popular content) could provide edited condensed feeds. Crime would go downin those areas with eyes and ears, but crime will evolve and persist. It will be easy to research everyone youmeet and to stay connected. Since this will be by and large electronic it will promote a sustainable lifestyleby not consuming additional resources.

43http://www.�ickr.com/photos/rizzato/2342959844/



17 Review Questions

Question 1

Select an aspect of your day-to-day existence that has environmental consequences. Describe theenvironmental consequences, and brie�y discuss more sustainable alternatives.

Question 2

What does a complete street look like? How does it di�er from the street outside of your home?

Question 3

Describe a sustainable neighborhood that you're familiar with and explain what makes it sustain-able.

Question 4

If sustainability is so bene�cial why isn't everything sustainable? Name one market barrier tosustainability and explain what can be done to overcome it.

Glossary

De�nition 1: biomimicry

Biomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and ele-ments to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. The terms biomimicryand biomimetics come from the Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate.Examples include adhesive glue from mussels, solar cells made like leaves, fabric that emulates sharkskin, harvesting water from fog like a beetle, etc.

De�nition 2: e-commerce

Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the entireonline process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for products andservices.

De�nition 3: ecological footprint

Ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardizedmeasure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacityto regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary tosupply the resources a human population consumes, and to mitigate associated waste. Using thisassessment, it is possible to estimate how much of the Earth (or how many planet Earths) it wouldtake to support humanity if everybody followed a given lifestyle.

De�nition 4: low impact cluster development

Low impact cluster development is the grouping of buildings on a portion of the site and devotingthe undeveloped land to open space, recreation or agriculture. Though cluster development lowersdevelopment cost through savings on roads and infrastructure (sewers, electric and water lines,etc.), it has issues such as con�icts with many older zoning ordinances, perceptions of personalspace (lower individual lot size) and maintenance of common areas.

De�nition 5: McMansion

A slang term that describes a large, opulent house that may be generic in style and representsa good value for a homebuyer in terms of its size. This type of home is built to provide middleand/or upper middle class homeowners with the luxurious housing experience that was previouslyonly available to high-net-worth individuals.

De�nition 6: postindustrial information age

Is a way of capturing the nature of western economies, in which most people are no longer engagedin the production of goods (which is highly automated) but rather deal with the publication,consumption, and manipulation of information, especially by computers and computer networks.



A post-industrial society has �ve primary characteristics: the domination of service, rather thanmanufacturing, the pre-eminence of the professional and technical classes, the central place oftheoretical knowledge as a source of innovations, the dominating in�uence of technology, and levelsof urbanization higher than anywhere else in the world.

De�nition 7: telework

Working from a remote location, usually a home o�ce, by electronically linking to a company.

De�nition 8: walkability

Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability has many health, envi-ronmental, and economic bene�ts. Factors in�uencing walkability include the presence or absenceand quality of footpaths, sidewalks or other pedestrian right-of-ways, tra�c and road conditions,land use patterns, building accessibility, destination density and safety, among others. Walkabilityis an important concept in sustainable urban design.


The Sustainable City

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