Factors Affecting Sustainability of an Urban City



Factors Affecting Sustainability of an Urban City

Compact City

Modern urban planning seeks to ensure sustainable development of settlements. Today in many countries, the problem of urban sprawl is becoming increasingly important. While analyzing the experience of foreign countries, it can be concluded that the trend is negative. Urban sprawl leads to an increase in urban areas, and, therefore increases the negative impact on the environment. In this suburbanization often characterized inefficient use of the territory, as it is a low-density residential building individual houses with undeveloped system of cultural and community service. Termination of the urban sprawl is one of the most important tasks of planning. This is supported by a wide range of reasons: reduced consumption of land, minimizing the need for transport, supporting existing business districts in city centres, etc.

Economic growth is an increase in the level of car ownership, and the availability of personal transport allows more freedom of movement and increases the range of accessibility of cultural and community services, job opportunities, etc. As a consequence, the number of commuters and is actively developing cottage building, absorbing suburban green areas and farmland.

Urban sprawl has environmental, social and economic consequences. This process is most clearly be considered by the example of the United States, where the process of suburbanization has been going on continuously for more than 60 years. Urban sprawl in the post-war North America was due to economic growth, promotion of home ownership, allocation of land for this purpose, government subsidies and investments in highways and suburban infrastructure.

This does not promote the sustainable development of the area and destroy the ecosystem. U.S. researchers have carefully considered all of the negative effects of urban sprawl and developed the concept of "new urbanism", closely related to the principles of the "compact city". Municipal authorities are making appropriate decisions to achieve the basic concept and to establish the limits of urban growth.

With the growth of cities also began to fight in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Australian politicians have focused on the consolidation of the city, describing it as the construction of medium-and high-density housing in built-up areas, construction of large undeveloped urban areas. The policy of building a "compact city" actively introduced in the mid-1990s in the UK. Planners realized that the compact city is a radical change in urban planning.

Today, the negative effects of urbanization are trying to fight in different areas and activities: implementing energy-efficient systems, renewable energy, electric cars, etc. However, for wildlife conservation in the first place, you need to solve the problem of growing urbanization, more precisely - urban sprawl. The main purpose of the model of "compact city" is to reduce the pressure of urban space in the suburbs. In the future urban growth, scientists believe Williams will have to take place within the existing city limits.

At the same time, most researchers believe that the concept of the "compact city" is contradictory. One cannot say that all aspects of this concept will improve the ...