What Happened?
As sustainability strategies and action plans become more common at the local level, cities continue to set aggressive goals regarding energy efficiency and resource management.
Sustainable Cities Index
ARCADIS recently published its Sustainable Cities Index that ranks cities worldwide on their ability to operate efficiently while growing and thriving. The Sustainable Cities Index examines three demands that must be met by a successful, adaptive municipality:
- People
- Plant
- Profit
According to the 2015 report, several cities are a step ahead of the game in balancing the economic, social and environmental needs of their communities. There is no one city, however, that is able to balance all three components perfectly to achieve a utopian municipality. Rather, most city leaders continue to struggle with achieving sustainability in all three categories.
European cities led the rankings of the top 50 most sustainable cities with Frankfurt in first place, followed by London, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Asian cities of Seoul, Hong Kong and Singapore also made the top 10 rankings, while Manila, Mumbai, Wuhan and New Delhi placed in the bottom five cities. In North America, Toronto took the top spot at 12, followed by Boston at 15 and Chicago at 19.
In terms of what cities should focus on moving forward with sustainability plans, the report recommends cities not forget the needs of individual residents when setting aggressive environmental and economic goals. While many cities have found a winning formula for generating savings while reducing energy consumption and pollution, very few are able to reach these targets while improving quality of life for residents.
Furthermore, city leaders in all 50 municipalities ranked will have to deal with population increases over the next 15 years. This will require more resources dedicated to efficient planning and space management.
Nottingham
In the UK, Nottingham is embarking on a significant project designed to make it the most sustainable city in Europe, thanks to a $7.62 million investment from the European Commission. Over the next five years, Nottingham – and just eight other cities across Europe – will launch a plan to boost sustainability by addressing seven initiatives, Nottingham Post reported.
Nottingham already has a reputation for being one of the cleanest municipalities in the UK. The goal of the project is to build off the existing programs that are working in the city and pilot new efforts for long-term savings and efficiency. The strategy includes:
- Installing external solid wall insulation and deploying smart meters in 411 homes
- Constructing an innovative low temperature extension to the city’s district heating system
- Adding electric vehicles to city fleets
- Creating a tourist route connecting visitors to city attractions
Many of the initiatives aim to help homes meet zero carbon standards by 2050 while extending energy resources to more buildings in the community. Nottingham is also working to eliminate excess cars from the road while increasing tourism efficiency with green transit, Nottingham Post reported.
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