Developing Liveable Cities 

Strategies for Creating High Density Cities

Sustainable development has promoted the development of denser urban areas as a strategy protect the environment and natural resources. Cities can often result in better resource management and use while also reducing the amount of land that is used for living, making denser cities a clear choice as the world population grows. Dense urban places will become more and more in demand as populations move towards cities, with as much as 70 percent of the world's population living in these urban centers by 2050 according to the UN. Therefore, the successful implementation of urban planning strategies is necessary to ensure that cities are designed and planned in an efficient yet liveable manner. A recent report by the Urban Land Institue (ULI) used Singapore as a case study to determine ten points that attribute to growth and development of liveable cities.

Singapore Skyline

   

The following are the ten points that the study found attributed to positive growth in high density cities.

1. Plan for Long-Term Growth and  Renewal

2. Embrace Diversity, Foster Inclusiveness

3. Draw Nature Closer to People

4. Develop Affordable, Mixed-Use Neighborhoods

5. Make Public Spaces Work Harder

6. Prioritize Green Transport and Building Options

7. Relieve Density with Variety and Add Green Boundaries

8. Activate Spaces for Greater Safety

9. Promote Innovative and Non-Conventional Solutions

10. Forge "3Ps (People Public Private) Partnerships"

Bryant Park In New York City

The main focus of the majority of the points above is to spur the growth of integrated multi-use spaces within the city. The variety in the urban composition is the cities greatest strength. This variety is through the use of multiple scales of urban spaces with a combination of both natural and constructed settings. Affordability is also a concern of any developing city. Often, city districts foster to only one economic class, often pushing lower economic classes into specified areas of the city and the city edge. Mixed-use affordable neighborhoods are possibly the most important point in city development. The overall strategy for cities is to create a blended composition throughout the city. By creating the mixed-use affordable neighborhoods, cities promote this blending of populations within the city that often align with the other points for liveable cities. Affordable neighborhoods promote diversity by default, and the diversity of the population will lead to the demand of a variety of public and private partnerships to grow that would not be present in a homogeneous city.

Via Verde Development in South Bronx

Striving for Net Zero Water

The US Army's Vision for Net Zero

                                                     

Originally focused on net zero energy, the US Army has expanded its vision for net zero bases to now include water and waste. The more immediate goals for the program are the reduction of potable water use by 26 percent by 2015 followed by a 50 percent reduction by 2020. The Army has had to rethink its infrastructure and water use practices from the ground up to be able to reach these goals. The initiative has resulted in greater maintenance policies as well as careful water usage monitoring for every use, from the imbedded water in military equipment to the amount of water used to make a cup of coffee.

The greater attention on water management and saving strategies has lead to the Army investing in a number of infrastructure upgrades and repairs. As an example, the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania installed 54 leak-detection sensors along the main valve stems. The sensors identified six leaks in the system, which led to a daily loss of 90,000 gallons. This lost water accounted for 26 percent of the depot's daily water use. Since then, the repairs have saved $29,459 and roughly 17 million gallons of potable water. The same depot installed water meters to further reduce water loss by another 11,000 gallons per day.

                                                      

Another military base that has made strides toward net zero water is the Oregon Army National Guard at Camp Rilea. Camp Rilea does not rely on a centralized system, but instead on the underground aquifer it sits on. The system in use returns treated water to the underground aquifer to reduce the withdrawal rate of groundwater compared to the replenishment rate. The base uses extensive amounts of treated graywater for non-potable uses to reduce the demand on the aquifer. To further reduce the demand on the aquifer and lessen the amount of water lost due to evaporation, the base is investing in rapid infiltration basins to speed up the treatment process and bring the water back to the aquifer 200 feet below the base.

The base also relies on a water balance analysis to understand what uses demand the most water. The analysis has led the base to invest in water efficient fixtures as well as investigate the use of a weather based control system for watering plants. The system would monitor moisture and precipitation before watering to ensure that water isn't being wasted for watering the surroundings after a rainstorm. Other techniques like this are being developed as the Army seeks to reach its ultimate goal of net zero water, in addition to net zero energy and waste, by 2030.