What does it mean to be a green city?
"Green" means
applying a holistic approach to design, demolition, construction, and
remodeling that minimizes a structure’s impact on the environment, the
occupants, and the community by creating measures to reduce impacts including
but not limited to the following: site planning, energy efficiency, water
efficiency, materials and resource efficiency, indoor air quality and
environmental quality. Green
cities have large amounts of greenery consisting of a variety of trees and
plants. Alternative energy sources are
key to create a “green” sustainable city.
What are the benefits
of greening cities?
Researchers specifically looked at the impact of green areas
in urban areas, they specifically looked at things like climate impact,
pollution, noise levels, and traffic congestion. Researchers found that in green areas there
was cleaner air quality, lower noise levels, and an overall better quality of
life. Green areas can help with water
quality and acts as a protector against harmful materials. With proper landscaping, trees can help
prevent nitrate from dissolving into the water and harming it. Proper landscaping techniques can also help
reduce surface water runoff, which keeps phosphorus and other harmful chemicals
out of the water. Positioning trees in
certain spots can help with flooding and can prevent septic system overloads,
by acting like sponges the trees roots absorb the water. Studies also suggest that trees help to
reduce smog and green house gases.
Chicago is a great
example of a green city in the United States.
Chicago has been living with the motto urbs in horto, which
means “city in a garden” for over 175 years.
Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley’s environmental commissioner Sadhu
Johnston believes that cities are the answer to earth’s environmental
ills. He is determined to make Chicago
the most environmental city in the country.
Chicago drew lots of attention when it planted a very large garden on
the top of City Hall. Now Chicago is recommending
that all buildings should have “green rooftops” which consists of lush
gardens. Companies like Apple, Wal-Mart,
and McDonald’s already have green roofs on their buildings. The city has planned to have over 2 million
square feet of rooftop gardens, which would be more than the entire countries
cities combined. A crucial element of
green cities is having alternative renewable sources of energy. Chicago is moving towards have a fourth of
their city run by solar energy. To help
fulfill this goal, it has already attracted two separate solar panel
manufacturing companies to set up shop out of the Chicago.
When planting trees in
cities, it is important to plant a variety of species of trees.
Technologies that
help make cities greener are becoming more relevant.
Victoria, British Columbia is looking to have one hundred
percent of its waste treated on site.
Water will be treated and reused in flushing toilets and garden
irrigation. But one of the key
technologies being used in this futuristic city is a biomass-gasification
plant. The plant will turn wood waste
into energy for heat and hot water. The
biomass-gasification plant reduces disposal costs and landfill space, and in
return turns waste into power and fuels.
These plants have endless benefits such as reducing space in landfills,
decreasing methane emissions from landfills, and it greatly reduces the risk of
ground water contamination from landfills.
Technologies like this are becoming more relevant in green cities; the
key to become a sustainable “green” city is having alternative energy
sources. These biomass-gasification
plants serve two key roles in green cities.
It is a waste disposal plant and an alternative energy plant that will
help reduce the amount of fossil fuels used in cites. As the years go on, more cities will have
these technologies and it will serve as a starting point of moving to a more
sustainable lifestyle.
Photo Credited to chicago-roof.jpg
Photo Credited to chicago-roof.jpg