The Sustainable City

THE SUSTAINABLE CITY S TEVEN COHEN THE SUSTAINABLE CITY STEVEN COHEN THE SUSTAINABLE CITY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Cohen, Steven, September – author. Title: The sustainable city / Steven Cohen. Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN (print) | LCCN (ebook) | ISBN (electronic) | ISBN (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: City planning—Environmental aspects. | Urban renewal. | Sustainable development. Classification: LCC HT (ebook) | LCC HT .C (print) | DDC ./—dc LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/ Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America Cover design: Julia Kushnirsky Cover image: © Artem Vorobiev/Getty Images To the memory of my mother, Shirley Balas Cohen. CONTENTS Preface ix Acknowledgments xv PART I. CONCEPTS 1. DEFINING THE SUSTAINABLE CITY 3 2. SUSTAINABLE URBAN SYSTEMS: DEFINED AND EXPLAINED 15 3. THE SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE: DEFINED AND EXPLAINED 39 4. THE TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLY MANAGED ORGANIZATIONS 61 5. THE ROLE OF POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY IN BUILDING SUSTAINABLE CITIES 89 VIII CONTENTS PART II. CASES IN URBAN SUSTAINABILITY 6. WASTE MANAGEMENT IN NEW YORK CITY, HONG KONG, AND BEIJING 113 7. MASS AND PERSONAL TRANSIT 131 8. THE BUILDING OF THE SMART GRID: CASES OF MICROGRID DEVELOPMENT 153 9. PARKS AND PUBLIC SPACE 167 10. SUSTAINABLE URBAN LIVING 181 PART III. CONCLUSIONS 11. TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE CITY 203 Works Cited 209 Index 235 PREFACE great paradox of the transition to a sustainable economy is that it A will not be achieved in rural places in harmony with nature but in cities built to exploit nature without destroying it. The urban migra- tion now under way is a worldwide phenomenon that reached a critical inflection point in , when for the first time most of the people on the planet lived in cities. This book focuses on cities because place matters. Economic, technologi- cal, and cultural forces are moving people out of rural areas and into urban areas. While the global economy leads to a homogenization of fashion, entertainment, and aspects of culture, the human need for a sense of place and distinctiveness is countering some of these trends. But for cities to be sustainable in the brain-based economy, we must secure public investment in infrastructure, education, health care, and social services. We need to invest time, energy, and money in creating the sustainable city. The infrastructure to support distributed generation of renewable energy, mass and personal transit, and to treat and transform water, sewage, and solid waste can be built and even managed by private con- tractors but still requires a public sector that is active, ethical, sophisticated, and able to form productive public-private partnerships. Many cities are already investing in different parts of the infrastructure of the future, but the modern city still has a long way to go. This book provides a broad overview of the sustainable city from an organizational management and public policy perspective, utilizing examples and case studies from initia- tives, projects, policies, and legislation already extant in cities around the world. It examines past trends and potential future ones, contains real X PREFACE solutions and applications, and looks at the key aspects of a sustainable urban lifestyle. The book is divided into three parts: I, Concepts; II, Cases; and III, Conclusions. The book begins by defining the sustainable city, at least for the purposes of the discussion I will present. Why should a book on sustainability focus on cities? Because cities provide the dynamic, social, and ever-changing environment that people thrive in. We want to be part of the center of activity, to feel that we “belong” and yet that we are still distinctive. It is in the world’s cities that human potential can be realized—we just need to make sure we don’t destroy the planet while we explore that potential. While our economic life allows us to pay less attention to our basic biologi- cal needs, those needs remain and cannot be met if our planet is toxic or dangerous. We can have urban dynamism and clean air, water, and food, but it requires competent sustainability management, good governance, and adequate financial resources to be accomplished. The desire for a clean and healthy environment is an inevitable stage of economic development. The tainted water supply in Flint, Michigan, and the ensuing political crisis in for Michigan’s governor is only a small example of how a failure of governance can poison people. We know how to process and deliver clean water. The technology to transform even wastewater to safe drinking water exists and is available. But it is not free. What are the elements of a sustainable city? The overall definition of such a city is one that facilitates human economic (production and consumption) and social life with the least possible impact on the natural environment. This means that material flows into and out of the city are thought through and managed to minimize destruction of natural systems. The city’s water supply comes from sources that are replenished through natural processes or from sources that can be withdrawn without damag- ing ecosystems. The city’s solid waste is recycled as much as possible with food waste converted to fertilizer and other materials separated for reuse as well. Other systems such as sewage treatment, storm water drainage, energy, food, and transportation are designed for efficiency and least possible environmental impact. The sustainable city sounds like a wonderful place to live, but how do we get from here to there? How do we make the transition from today’s unsustainable city to tomorrow’s sustainable one? There are three arenas PREFACE XI that must be activated for this transition to take place: () organizational management, () finance, and () public policy. Chapter of this book provides an overview of the type of change that is needed in each of these arenas. Chapter defines and explains sustainable urban systems. I define and explain the following urban systems and what “sustainability” means in each of these distinct systems: r&OFSHZ r8BUFS r8BTUF r4FXBHF r'PPE r5SBOTQPSU r 1VCMJDTQBDF I also define and assess the technical, financial, organizational, and political requirements of the sustainable city. Each of these sections could easily be a book itself, and so by necessity this chapter can only provide an overview. Chapter discusses the sustainable urban lifestyle. My effort here is to distinguish the way people live in a sustainable city from that of people who attempt to live close to nature in rural areas. Obviously, urbanites pursuing a sustainable lifestyle are not living off the grid, growing all their food, and disposing their food waste in a compost heap. However, they may well grow some food in a neighborhood garden, participate in a farm-share where they guarantee they will purchase the produce of a local farmer, use renewable energy, practice energy efficiency, and send their food waste to an anaerobic digester. The sustainable city involves a sustainable lifestyle and a transforma- tion from the consumer society to something else. The twenty-first cen- tury brain-based economy has changed the nature of production and consumption. Rather than being defined by the size of one’s home and the consumer items one possesses, the sustainable lifestyle involves a search for different values. Consumer items remain valued, but they become means rather than ends. Consumption becomes more oriented toward XII PREFACE services, entertainment, travel, and experiences and less oriented toward possessing manufactured products. Such products become commodi- ties in the sustainable city, providing the necessities of life, but no longer serving as self-justifying goals. Culture and values are far more powerful forces of social change and consumption patterns than regulation. This chapter defines and explains the sustainable urban lifestyle that can be achieved in the sustainable city. It includes discussion of r UIFDIBOHJOHOBUVSFPGDPOTVNQUJPO r êUOFTT XFMMOFTT MPOHFWJUZ BOEIFBMUIDBSF r MJGFMPOHMFBSOJOH r UIFSPMFBOEJNQPSUBODFPGQMBDF r UIFDIBOHJOHOBUVSFPGXPSLBOE r UIFDPOOFDUFEXPSMEDVMUVSF In many respects this will be the most speculative chapter of the book. I really can’t predict the future, and even though I see this new lifestyle emerging, unpredictable events such as climate change, terrorism, or economic depression could easily undercut these projections. Chapter leaves sociology behind to focus on organizational management and the movement toward an organizational focus on the physical dimensions of sustainability. Today’s corporations, nonprofits, and governments are operating on a more crowded and interconnected planet that provides great opportunities but also poses great threats. There is little question that organizations are responding to greater pop- ulation, consumption, resource scarcity, environmental degradation, and increased risk and liability and factoring these issues into routine decision making. Energy, water, and other raw materials are becoming a larger element of the cost structure of all organizations. Organizations are now routinely

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