Sustainable City

What is a sustainable city?

Sustainabilty within a city is a massive topic and the definition is always changing. Here we can define a sustainable city based on the United Nations Economic Commission:

“A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses ICTs and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.”
— United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Examples of sustainable cities

• Lahti, Finland
  • Lahti is a pioneer in the green city world. The city leadership is fully invested in creating an environment that is liveable, circular and sustainable. Green Lahti initiatives include: carbon neutral by 2025, all citizenship adoption, circular and resilient trash and waste management as well as an advanced water recycling system.
• Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Sustainable Copenhagen hopes to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025, making them the first capital in the world to do so. As a world leader in sustainable transportation, Copenhagen continues to develop its cycling network and culture to significantly reduce car traffic. Other initiatives include: green space preservation, smart heating and cooling as well as sustainable building construction to name a few.
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Sustainable Amsterdam is a global example in renewable energy, clean air technology, cycling infrastructure and circular economy. Smart and sustainable solutions are prevalent in Amsterdam and have been for some time now.
• Stockholm, Sweden
  • Eco-Smart City Stockholm

Other examples of sustainable cities:

• Portland, USA
• Helsinki, Finland
• Vancouver, Canada
• Zurich, Switzerland
• Singapore

Examples of sustainable cities and communities in Germany

To reduce CO2 emissions and improve the quality of air and life in urban areas, there is no way around sustainable cities and communities. This also applies to Germany: urban green infrastructures, no matter how small, can make an enormous difference to the environment. They lay the foundation for sustainable urban development.

This is also demonstrated by the following examples of sustainable cities and communities that won the German Sustainability Award 2021.

• Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein
• Buxtehude, Lower Saxony
• Eltville am Rhein, Hesse

The German Sustainability Award is a national award and honors exemplary sustainability measures in the fields of business, research and municipalities. The three winners, Kiel, Buxtehude and Eltville am Rhein, demonstrated particular commitment in the categories of climate protection and social participation, as well as especially strong citizen participation.

Definition of sustainable urban development

Sustainable urban development is an interdisciplinary field in which the city is considered as a whole in all decisions. Any decision to change the city should be sustainable and incorporate all dimensions of sustainability. This includes environmental, economic, social and participation in decision-making processes.

For example, sustainable urban development exists when the following requirements are met:

• healthy living and working conditions
• preservation, safeguarding and creation of jobs
• nature conservation, environmental protection, flood protection and landscape conservation
• economic concerns and consumer-oriented supply of the population
• efficient passenger and freight traffic and high mobility of the population while reducing and avoiding traffic at the same time
• cultural and social needs of the population such as sports, leisure and recreation

Examples and projects for sustainable urban development

Sustainable urban development includes countless facets and fields of action, more precisely all measures for urban development and order. Possible practices of sustainable urban development include the construction of new buildings and the optimal expansion of business locations, as well as urban and environmentally friendly means of transportation.

Concrete examples of sustainable urban development are the following projects:

• Energy Cities city network: The city network is an association of European municipalities that are striving for a long-term energy policy. It includes around 200 members representing over 1,000 cities. Heidelberg is also one of them.
• C40 city network: C40 is a city network made up of the 40 largest cities in the world. The network was founded in 2005 and aims to reduce CO2 emissions. Berlin and Heidelberg are also part of C40.

What makes a sustainable city?

Many roads lead to Rome. It is therefore impossible to give a general answer to what exactly constitutes a sustainable city. The following criteria give a good impression of what the green city can look like - but are only to be understood as examples.

Key characteristics of a sustainable city:

• Getting around without a car is easy.
• Electric vehicles can be charged at EV charging stations.
• Access to public resources and green spaces is available.
• There are measures for optimized water conservation and wastewater management.
• Urban agriculture is actively supported.
• Street lights are energy-efficient and buildings are thermally insulated.
• Tickets for buses and trains are cheap and easy to purchase.
• Vacant buildings and brownfield sites are avoided.
• Space is used efficiently, e.g., by combining shopping on the first floor with apartments on the floors above.

Sustainable urban development vs. sustainable urban planning

The terms sustainable urban development and sustainable urban planning are often confused or used interchangeably, but they are related disciplines. Although they both describe the totality of all spatially effective planning processes of a city, they set different priorities:

• Sustainable urban development refers to the management of overall development with sustainability in mind. This includes economic, social, ecological and cultural development.
• Sustainable urban planning, on the other hand, encompasses the structural-spatial development of a city with a focus on sustainable solutions.