Dept of Urban and Regional planning
Jahangirnagar University, Savar Dhaka
What is Green City?
Green City concept refers to an approach that aims to make
the city, understood as a place to live, a place to live better, where plants,
landscaping and nature in the city ensure benefits for citizens in terms of
quality of life,
welfare, development of the economic and social links, ecological links and heritage links. Cities meets society’s demand for a life set that is a combination of cultural choices and a future policy. (Wikipedia, 2011)
welfare, development of the economic and social links, ecological links and heritage links. Cities meets society’s demand for a life set that is a combination of cultural choices and a future policy. (Wikipedia, 2011)
Why Green City?
A city is a collective place, where the ingredients of
civilization flourish in a sustainable way and where an individual discovers in
that collectivity his or her purpose and meaningfulness.
But the actual situation shows diverted picture from the
definitions. In very recent years climate change refers to the increase in
average surface temperature or global warming. Cities are experiencing rapid
population growth, extensive indiscriminate development works, shifting of
activities towards secondary and tertiary sectors, high dependency on fossil fuels
and large amount of energy consumption etc. These practices are changing
present city pattern and stunt the efficient functioning of city and highly
contribute to the continuous disruption of natural environment and the rapid
climate change. (Source: www.urbanspaces.eu)
Cities must be built without destroying nature. The planning
and policies must be applied in such a way that the functions of the city,
human activities can not intervene to the nature.
Green City Building and
Sustainability
Sustainable development refers to a mode of development in
which resource use aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so
that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations
to come. Four Domains of sustainability are
1. ECOLOGY
2. CULTURE
3. ECONOMY
4. POLITICS
The "green" refers to a method of design and
construction that minimizes burdens on our natural resources and the
environment. This is the way ahead for the building industry to move towards
achieving sustainable development, taking into account environmental,
socio-economic and cultural issues. Specifically, it involves issues such as
design and management of buildings, materials and building performance, energy
and resource consumption - within the larger orbit of urban development and
management. Green city buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of
the built environment on human health and the natural environment by:
1. Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources
2. Protecting occupant health and improving employee
productivity
3. Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation
4. Maintain the local and global ecosystem throughout the
entire building life-cycle.
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Figure : How Green City Building helps to achieve
Sustainability
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Reference:
- · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Circles_of_Sustainability_image_(assessment_-_Melbourne_2011).html, visited 11.04.2013
- · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development, visited 11.04.2013
- · http://www.urbanspaces.eu/files/ELCA-Boschuere_140911.pdf, visited 10.04.2013
- · http://www.rosengartenpark.com/files/Initial_Green_City_Concept.pdf, visited 11.04.2013
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