This is the era of rapid urbanization, with new and developed cities coming up every decade. As per a report, around three-quarters of humanity will be living in the cities by 2050. When there are now more jobs and cashflows contributing towards an improved standard of living, the massive increase in urban population has given rise to a new set of problems. Now, city living has the challenges like overcrowding public spaces, air pollution, limited natural resources, poor waste management, greenhouse effect, and many more.
The answer to these issues is to build sustainable cities with smart solutions. Such smart cities must include green buildings/houses, greenways, open spaces, clean energy sources like solar and wind energy. Also, sustainable smart cities must focus on using renewable energy instead of fossil fuel consumption to avoid greenhouse gases emission.
Sweden is a pioneer country that has rolled out a futuristic living. With a cluster of smart cities, Sweden has managed to develop sustainable cities by implementing many innovative steps – the launch of electric buses, building wooden structures, food banks, district heating, adopting beehives, hydrogen filling stations, advanced recycling process, etc.
About Sustainable City Planning in Sweden
Sweden – the most sustainable country in the world today, has managed to achieve this milestone with its usage of renewable energy sources and low carbon dioxide emissions. Also, the implementation practices like labor participation, education, and institutional framework have been a part of this achievement. The country has made it because of the following approaches:
Proximity to Greenery – The cities are situated close to parks and forests and promote the usage of public transportation, out of which around 65% of transport operate on renewable energy.
Initiatives taken – The ‘Landvetter’ Airport in Sweden has maintained the highest level of Airport Carbon Accreditation implies that the airport itself is carbon neutral. Gothenburg also issued a green bond for investments benefitting the climate and environment. The historical properties present there are powered from its own wind turbine off the coast.
Eco-friendly deals offerings – It has also initiated to decrease its waste quantity by providing unsold meals as takeout dishes for 50% off. The city boasts a network of bicycle paths and bike-share programs offering 30 mins free to use them.
What Others in the World Doing
Along with Sweden, there are other countries roped after to excel in maintaining their sustainable cities.
Iceland
The city of Reykjavik plans on eliminating greenhouse gas emissions production by introducing hydrogen buses. Also, the country is encouraging electric car use for its 9,000 public employees by offering free parking and lower taxes.
Helsinki, Finland
They are into the usage of solar and wind energy systems and came up with the first apartment building to use solar electricity.
San Francisco, California
San Fran diverts 80% of its waste away from landfills. The authorities are focused on pushing forward the bans on certain products like plastic bags and plastic water bottles, etc.
Stockholm, Sweden
Biodiesel of the type B100 Biodiesel RME and HVO100 renewable diesel is being used to convert public transport to 100% fossil-free in Stockholm.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Around 24% of the total food sale in Copenhagen is being produced organically, driving the organic eating trend.
How to Plan Sustainable Architecture at a Construction Level
Sustainable architecture makes use of design strategies to reduce the negative impact of a built environment. Investing in sustainable strategies followed by energy modeling provides large savings over time, along with a positive impact on air quality and well-being. A few sustainable architecture strategies are:
Area Survey for Water and Other Geographical Conditions
In this, the maintenance of waterways and treatment plants is performed. By deploying sensors and collecting data, pumping schedules can be optimized to reduce costs and improve water security. Also, the method uses a network of sensors to monitor urban sewer systems.
Sun Path Analysis and Suggestions
With factors like spatial arrangement, orientation, window placement, daylight access, etc., one can take benefit of natural solar energy sources and make the building much more energy efficient.
Wind Analysis and Architectural Planning
A wind assessment is performed in order to fix the issues like increasing temperature in densely populated cities.
Shadow Analysis and Planning of the Structures
Providing continuous access to sunlight is essential for the maintenance of trees and green areas.
Rain Water Harvesting and Channeling
In this, structures like masonry tanks, reinforced cement concrete tanks, Ferro cement jars are built post-construction to make the best use of water.
Green Vegetation for Heat Insulation
Vines, shrubs, and some other trees are used to make them grow flat against the walls in order to protect structures from heat and cold conditions.
Natural Landscape Development
Usually ignored during land development plannings or considered at the last – green vegetation must be an integral part of landscape development. In this process, the biophilic design into the architecture is more used to build a smart and power-efficient building structure.
Sweden Made It Possible – Now It Is Our Turn!
Effects like climate change, the shift in Earth’s landscape, elevated sea levels, extreme weather events are a matter of concern for all of us. When the time to start the change was decades ago, it’s time we must shake the systems and make room for sustainable architecture as a mandatory step in every construction project. For the sake of our planet and livelihood, we all need to focus on making urban life more sustainable, like Sweden.
