Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices

By Peter Newman and Isabella Jennings

Modern city dwellers are largely detached from the environmental effects of their daily lives. The sources of the water they drink, the food they eat, and the energy they consume are all but invisible, often coming from other continents, and their waste ends up in places beyond their city boundaries.
 
Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems shows how cities and their residents can begin to reintegrate into their bioregional environment, and how cities themselves can be planned with nature’s organizing principles in mind. Taking cues from living systems for sustainability strategies, Newman and Jennings reassess urban design by exploring flows of energy, materials, and information, along with the interactions between human and non-human parts of the system.
 
Drawing on examples from all corners of the world, the authors explore natural patterns and processes that cities can emulate in order to move toward sustainability. Some cities have adopted simple strategies such as harvesting rainwater, greening roofs, and producing renewable energy. Others have created biodiversity parks for endangered species, community gardens that support a connection to their foodshed, and pedestrian-friendly spaces that encourage walking and cycling.

A powerful model for urban redevelopment, Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems describes aspects of urban ecosystems from the visioning process to achieving economic security to fostering a sense of place.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Island Press
• Release date: Sep 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781597267472

Peter Newman

Peter Newman lives in Somerset with his wife and son. Growing up in and around London, Peter studied Drama and Education at the Central School of Speech and Drama, going on to work as a secondary school drama teacher. He now works as a trainer and Firewalking Instructor. He sometimes pretends to be a butler for the Tea and Jeopardy podcast, which he co-writes, and which has been shortlisted for a Hugo Award.

Book preview

scales.

CHAPTER 1

Vision

PRINCIPLE 1

Provide a long-term vision for cities based on sustainability; intergenerational, social, economic, and political equity; and their individuality.

Elaboration: A long-term vision is the starting point for catalyzing positive change, leading to sustainability. The vision needs to reflect the distinctive nature and characteristics of each city.

The vision should also express the shared aspirations of the people for their cities to become more sustainable. It needs to address equity, which means equal access to both natural and human resources, as well as shared responsibility for preserving the value of these resources for future generations.

A vision based on sustainability will help align and motivate communities, governments, businesses, and others around a common purpose, and will provide a basis for developing a strategy, an action program, and processes to achieve that vision.

Visions to Inspire

The path to sustainability starts with the development of long-term visions. According to Steven Ames, the Iroquois idea of the Seventh Generation offers a useful model for community visioning:

Among the teachings of the Iroquois Confederacy, a centuries-old confederation of six Native American nations, is the idea of the Seventh Generation. In our way of life, in our government, with every decision we make, we always keep in mind the Seventh Generation to come, says Chief Oren Lyons, member of the Onondaga Nation and spokesman for the Confederacy. It’s our job to see that the people coming ahead, the generations still unborn, have a world no worse than ours—and hopefully better.

This practice of bringing the abstract and distant future into present-day reality is a powerful lesson. Indeed, the extent to which we are able to give something of value to the world may be measured in how much we have considered the long-term future in our current decisions and actions. Perhaps, someday, governments everywhere will think as instinctively about the Seventh Generation as do the Iroquois peoples. Until then, their teaching offers us a noble standard from which to judge our effort. (Ames 1997)

This was the core message of the landmark report from the World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (WCED 1987), that development had to meet the needs of current and future generations. Visions are about dreams, imagination, passion, and creativity. Long-term visions can inspire action and guide decision making. Viewing our settlements as ecosystems and living communities provides us with a direction and points to strategies for change.

Visions have always been at the foundation of good politics. The biblical saying Without vision the people will perish (Proverbs 29:18) has been the basis for many political programs wishing to catch the imagination of the people. Sustainability is the latest vision of global politics, but it now needs to be integrated into every city.

Many cities have made attempts in this direction, some using the ecosystem metaphor to guide them, but mostly these visions are fragmented, failing to bring together all the necessary elements and not based on broad community ownership. The Melbourne Principles provide an overarching vision, but every city needs to formulate its own vision, responsive to the needs and particularities of place within global aspirations for sustainability, equity, and peace.

The development of a vision for a city provides the basis for setting goals for action plans. The vision statement needs to recognize the constraints of a community. It should also define the ecological, social, and economic characteristics and values that the community has identified as crucial for sustainability, along with community priorities for short- and long-term action. This provides a guiding framework for future decision making.

Sustainability is not some fixed, perfect state but rather an evolving one that responds to changes in ecological processes as well as changes in human culture and institutions. Thus, community visions need to be revised regularly to reflect these changes.

Some vision statements, such as the Earth Charter, present alternative views of progress. Launched officially in June 2000, the Earth Charter is a document that was formulated by thousands of people in seventy-eight countries over the course of twelve years. It calls for a compassionate, just, and sustainable world. The Earth Charter was endorsed by local governments at the Johannesburg Earth Summit in 2002. Cities need to formulate vision statements that incorporate principles such as those expressed in the Earth Charter and the Melbourne Principles. Later in this chapter, examples are given of several city vision statements.

The Visioning Process

A vision needs to be developed through a community visioning process—an inclusive and participatory process that brings together people from across the community and empowers marginalized groups to contribute. Ames (1997) describes community visioning as a process through which a community imagines the future it most desires and then plans to achieve it.... Encouraging local communities to dream is the beginning of building a better world.

Community participation is integral to the success of the visioning process, as the US Environmental Protection Agency recognizes:

Community participation is key. Bringing people together, including business, industry, and education, along with children, planners, civic leaders, environmental groups and community associations, allows the vision to capture the values and interests of a broad constituency. Brainstorming ideas from the entire community results in a synergistic effect which can bring out a myriad of ideas that reflect the values and interests of the community as a whole.¹

The diversity of ideas that such a process will generate, along with the ownership people have over the vision, provides the basis for genuine sustainability.

Community visioning processes in Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the United States have attracted worldwide attention. Steven Ames, a planning consultant who has worked with communities and institutions in visioning processes throughout Oregon, has compiled a community visioning guide and given many presentations reflecting on his experiences. Ames argues for the importance of asking good questions. During his early work as an activist he observed that people cannot be forced to change, but he hypothesized that by asking people salient questions positive change might emerge. From his experiences he concludes that when communities plan for their future in a rigorous and serious way, they often end up doing the ‘right’ thing.

The community visioning model he espouses emerged from his experiences with the city of Corvallis—the trailblazer for visioning in Oregon’s communities—and other communities across Oregon. During the 1970s, Oregon developed a comprehensive planning system to manage rapid growth, safeguard natural resources (including farms and forests), and preserve the area’s quality of life. The planning system required local communities to formulate land use plans in accordance with statewide goals. It was the only system of its kind in the United States at the time and today is still regarded as a progressive model for the rest of the nation. The Corvallis vision process, called Charting a Course for Corvallis, emerged just as Oregon was hit by serious recession.

Charting a Course for Corvallis (1988–89) laid the foundation for visioning in Oregon and led to many planning innovations. The process involved considerable community involvement, with the city leaving no stone unturned in finding ways for people to engage in the process, including informational presentations and community meetings, splashy public events with national speakers and children’s visioning activities, a task force and special focus groups. The Corvallis vision and goals linked directly into city council activities, with a focus on the downtown and riverfront. Within ten years, officials concluded that most of the vision had been realized sooner than expected. The city then began a process to update its vision, achieving another first in Oregon.

Corvallis now has a new 2020 vision statement:

We envision that in 2020 Corvallis will be . . .

a compact, medium-sized city (population range: 57,500 to 63,500) nestled in a beautiful natural setting;

the historic, civic, cultural, and commercial heart of Benton County;

an economically strong and well-integrated city, fostering local businesses, regional cooperation, and clean industry;

a university town, a regional medical center, a riverfront city;

an environmentally-aware community with distinctive open space and natural features, protected habitats, parks, and outdoor recreation;

rich in the arts and recreational opportunities, celebrating the talents and culture of the people who live here;

a community that values and supports quality education throughout the age continuum;

known for its comprehensive health and human services, and for its services for the elderly and disabled;

a hub in a regional transportation system that connects Linn and Benton counties and provides a link to the north-south high-speed rail system;

a highly livable city which employs local benchmarks to measure its progress in areas such as housing, economic vitality, educational quality, environmental quality, and overall quality of