What is a Green City?
What is a Green City?
What is a green city? How to build green cities? While the effects of climate change due to the global warming increase, these questions are now frequently asked by several municipalities, international organizations, and scientists worldwide.
As we all know, our world is becoming more and more populated. Seasonal normals are changing. Increasing number of disasters occur due to the climate change. The climate change threatens our planet. Urbanization rate is higher than ever. Nowadays, the majority of the world's population lives in cities. The increase in urbanization and industrialization results in increasing consumption of natural resources besides air and water pollution.
Cities utilize approximately 70% of the natural resources worldwide. Furthermore, cities are responsible for over 70% of the total carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. According to data published on the website of the Right to Clean Air Platform, air pollution exceeds the limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 98% of the 51 cities in Turkey where measurements were taken. Moreover, air pollution has caused over six times the number of deaths compared to traffic accidents since 2017. Istanbul has the highest number deaths due to air pollution in Turkey.
The Istanbul Planning Agency has worked on 2050 Vision of Istanbul to shape the future of Istanbul from today. The study underlines the requirement to build a fair, green, and climate-resistant Istanbul. But how can we build fair, green, and climate-resistant cities?
We have compiled everything you need to know about green cities in this article!
What does Green City mean?
The concept of 'green city' is getting more and more popular worldwide. The term ‘green city’ is used for cities that would like to achieve sustainable growth. A city can be referred to as a green city if they strive to minimize the negative impacts of urbanization on the environment.
The mentality focuses on creating greener and more livable cities. Green cities have the goal to reduce air pollution, enhance biodiversity and harvest rainwater, as well as increasing green spaces and developing recycling programs. Green cities also aim to reduce the consumption of resources such as water and electricity. Increasing the utilization of renewable energy and decreasing fossil fuel consumption is the main idea of the green city concept.
Creating accessible, comfortable, green and public areas is a priority for green cities. However, these areas should be accessible for everyone, i.e., they need to be socially ‘fair’.
Transportation is a critical issue in green cities. Urban transportation constitutes a significant portion of air pollution. Therefore, building a new green city requires increasing cycling and public transportation alternatives and decreasing driving private vehicles.
One of the key components of the green city concept is green buildings. Green buildings are constructed using environmentally friendly materials with less fossil fuel consumption. Some green buildings can be covered with solar panels, wind turbines and even carbon-absorbing plants.
For further details, please check our article titled ''What is a Green Building?''
Municipalities worldwide have already started transforming from endless concretes to cities focused on sustainable planning! The cities of the future will be green cities.
So, how to build green cities?
How to Build Green Cities?
The main purpose of green cities is to improve the quality of life for urban residents and decrease the damage of urbanization on the environment. Therefore, the concept covers various areas including designing urban squares, harvesting rainwater, public transportation, waste management, etc. However, everything starts with the infrastructure. The first and most critical step to build green cities is to build an infrastructure resilient to the climate change and disasters.
As mentioned above, the concept of "green city" is has several aspects.
Let's take a closer look at some practices.
Green City Practices
How to build green cities? Through smart planning and sustainable urban design! However, there are so many projects and solutions for building green cities that we cannot cover in this article. Let's list some of these practices:
• Prepare a green action plan.
• Encourage the use of permeable concrete to support rainwater infiltration and groundwater recharge, build sponge cities and green corridors.
• Incentivize green buildings.
• Encourage insulation in buildings to reduce consumption of energy for heating and cooling.
• Harvest rainwater.
• Make urban data reviewable, monitorable, and transparent. Work closely with the civil society.
• Afforestation of streets, squares, and sidewalks to reduce the urban heat island effect.
• End concreting in riverbeds.
• Plan cities according to water flow direction to reduce the risk of flooding.
• Build charging stations to incentivize electric vehicles.
• Increase pedestrian and cycling paths.
• Expand means of public transportation.
• Re-plan an environmentally friendly waste management.
• Preserve and enhance biodiversity.
• Incentivize local supply chains and empower local agriculture to reduce carbon footprint.
• Invest in renewable energy resources.
The aforementioned practices are just a few examples of large and small-scale projects that can be carried out to establish green cities!
International agencies, governments, and local authorities worldwide continue to brainstorm and find solutions for green cities. Local authorities have a significant role to play in promoting the widespread adoption of green cities.
So, what is the role of local governments in all these applications? Why should we prioritize green municipal work?
What is a Green Municipality?
Local authorities play a crucial role in tackling climate change. Their contribution is essential in strengthening the resilience of cities against climate and disaster, and creating sustainable cities. That's why the concept of Green Municipality is becoming increasingly important. So, what is green municipality?
In brief, green municipalities focus on ecological and social sustainability. They put efforts to support green economy, encourage transition to green energy, and create green cities.
Green municipalities also emphasize a fair city planning, which is a multidimensional issue that includes creating accessible areas for all, designing accessible public transportation for people with disabilities. Green municipalities adopt fair, transparent, and participatory processes.
Several issues, including generating ecological solutions, developing an environmentally friendly waste management, lie at the heart of a green municipality. To sum up, green municipality covers environmental management, transportation, water management, energy consumption, biodiversity, etc. and all these topics require sustainable solutions.
At first glance, the work of green cities and green municipalities may look challenging, complex, and multi-layered. However, many governments, municipalities, and institutions worldwide focus on the same issues and share their know-how with each other! Green solutions, strategies, and practices are truly promising for the future of cities. Empowering local authorities and offering local solutions play a vital role in tackling the climate crisis.
Never say "What can my part be in all of this?" It is of great significance to raise awareness of people on these problems and solutions. By doing so, we can contribute to the transformation of our cities and municipalities. For example, we can request our municipality to obtain a Green Municipality Certificate and participate in the decision-making and implementation processes of municipalities.
Good News from Turkey
Izmir is the first city in Turkey to join the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Green Cities Program. Izmir Green City Action Plan has been developed. The action plan covers issues related to water, biodiversity, air, soil, and climate change. The plan was financed by EBRD. The plan covers various solutions, from reducing GHG emissions to waste management and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has now set out on the path to become a greener city!
On the other hand, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Ankara Metropolitan Municipality have also issued their climate action plans. However, if you think the good news is limited to Izmir, Ankara, and Istanbul, you are wrong! Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, as the first municipality to prepare a Climate Change Action Plan, sets a great example. Bursa Municipality, on the other hand, has taken significant steps towards sustainable energy strategies thanks to its Energy and Climate Change Compliance Plan.
Another promising news is the actions taken by the NGOs in Turkey regarding green cities. NGOs are now working more closely with local governments! Check this report by the Green Thought Association for further information. Organization and collaboration of NGOs with local governments are crucial for the development of green cities.
The Green Thought Association is also active in the Western Black Sea Region. Thanks to the project "Leaving No One Behind: Strengthening Climate Action in the Western Black Sea Region," the association explores ways to build climate-resilient cities.
Why Are Green Cities Important?
The majority of the world's population lives in cities, and the consumption rates of natural resources are the highest in the cities. That's why building ‘green cities,’ re-considering urban life, and planning our cities in accordance with the sustainability principles are more important than ever. Technology advances, local authorities take action, and new solutions are developed every day. We can raise awareness of people around, support local governments in our cities, and attach significance to having insulation in our buildings we reside to encourage green cities.