4 ways to build more sustainable cities
The idea that we need to make our cities more sustainable isn’t a new one. However, instead of talking about how important it is to establish these more environmentally-friendly cities, our focus perhaps needs to lie more in howwe achieve this.
Granted, there isn’t a magic solution as to how we can do this, nor will the same approach work for each and every city. But there are some key ideas that could work in the cities and towns we know and love.
Here are just some of these ideas:
1. Aiding Mobility
It probably goes without saying that if we want to tackle mobility issues in our cities, we need to prioritise people over vehicles. Cars not only pollute our atmosphere but they also take up valuable space within our cities (consider the parking spaces we need to have for the vehicle to be left at home andoutside an office).
To combat this we need to look for ways we can make public transport more efficient, safe and appealing, while also encouraging people to walk and cycle more throughout cities.
2. Getting Rid of Smoke-Related Litter (and Making People More Aware of It)
Did you know, in London alone 6 million cigarettes butts find themselves on the streets every year?
That’s a vast amount of rubbish, which is why it costs the City’s council a whopping £3.8 million to clean them all up.
Smoke-related litter, therefore, isn’t a small problem for any city. And despite tight rules and laws surrounding litter dropping, these cigarette butts are still finding their way onto our streets.
Enforcing tougher fines and penalties for dropping all types of litter, having more bins and clear signage may help. And perhaps even the encouragement of a vape shop or two may help.
After all, the latest figures demonstrate that e-cigarettes are continuing to grow in popularity, which should, in theory, mean fewer cigarette butts.
Educating people about the issues of smoke-related litter and how this can be tackled is a beneficial move forward.
3. Shared Working Spaces
As more and more of us work remotely online, the idea of sharing resources and spaces is a great and eco-friendly one. They help us make the most of unused spaces and will also encourage workers to share lifts, commute together and utilise the same facilities within one building, rather than in several.
Focusing on the self-employed and freelancers would be a great place to start.
4. Making Trees Social
Another cool idea, and one that Melbourne has formed,is to encourage people to plant more trees by making it a social thing.
The project called Urban Forest Visual allows residents in Melbourne to plant a tree, then continue to track and share its progress across their favourite social media channels. This has led to an increase in tree cover by 22%, and by 2040, this is expected to double.
Often, sustainability is all about finding clever, inspiring ways to make important changes within our cities. From adopting our large use of social media to making it easy for people to do what they need to do, there are so many ways we can look to change our cities and make them an even better place to work, live and socialise in.
