It remains useful to fall back on a definition of a sustainable city. In Europe, it’s a term that demonstrates a genuine change in mentality. As a political project launched in the 1990s, the sustainable city aimed to create a new urban setting that would respect the individual, heritage and the environment, implying, in particular, the use of urban planning policies. Only in 2010 did the European Commission launch an award dedicated to the Green Capital. This award is evidence of a new stage in the construction of sustainable cities, since it appeals to their competitiveness.
Stockholm was the first city to be awarded, for its efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. Green spaces, waste management and also attractive public transport were the determining factors in its selection: 77% of inhabitants use public transport, and the Swedish capital is also one of the cities that adopted congestion charging in 2006 in order to relieve traffic flow.
Although it remains a rather isolated initiative, congestion charging is always held up as one of the greatest innovations in terms of city policy. With Singapore as a pioneer in 1975, the congestion charging solution has been taken up by large metropolises such as London and Oslo. This audacious project has a double target: to reduce traffic in urban zones and to develop a new system to finance public transport.
Clean transport for sustainable cities
Following a new dictum “show me your transport, I’ll tell you what city you are” transport infrastructures are gradually becoming decisive characteristics in terms of defining the sustainable city.
Let’s take the example of Copenhagen: it is surely its 300 kilometres (almost 190 miles) of cycle paths that make it one of the greenest cities in the world.
The question of mobility is, therefore, at the heart of the sustainable cities project. As such, France is setting an example with the city of Bordeaux , which has implemented a voluntary mobility policy based around its tramway and on encouraging people to use bicycles.
In California, progress towards constructing the sustainable city is taking a very different path: electric mobility is at the core of political strategy. While San Francisco is installing charging stations all over the city, the SolarCity project intends to build a motorway for electric vehicles ; the charging terminals will run off solar energy.
It would be impossible to talk about sustainable cities without mentioning Masdar City , the new carbon-neutral city. A project of the United Arab Emirates Ecopolis, Masdar City plans to use only renewable energy sources. A utopia or the first green city in the world? The project was launched in 2008 and could welcome up to 50,000 people.
Finally, Mediterranean metropolises, the next players in the field of sustainable cities, are already highly involved with new urban planning. Following the publication of a guide to urban transportation in the Mediterranean region, the city of Marseille, in France, will host the first "New towns, for sustainable cities" forum on the 30th September.
Marcel Green and Sustainable Mobility are starting a new partnership together … And it’s all happening in the “Interviews” section!
