Sustainable Community Development

Sustainable Community:
Introduction:
The term sustainable community is a very strong word. to understand it as a whole term, there is need first to understand the terms sustainable and community separately  Sustainable means anything which has the capability to retain, to survive both in good and bad situations. Community is a group of people making up a neighborhood or society. So the sustainable community is a society where people are living together in maintaining and surviving conditions making a community keep going in favorable and non favorable conditions.

the term dates back in 2003 when its need has been experienced by deputy prime minister, John Prescott, in the plan for economic, social and environmental development: Sustainable communities: Building for the future.

The report came up with the argument that how the governmental policies should be planned to tackle with the issue and need for more afforable housing. as the urbanization is going to be in more speed with passing time. as more people keep on coming from rural to urban centres, there will be need for more and more housing. as more people more houses, more development, more industries, more global warming.

 "[This plan] will take us towards successful, thriving and inclusive communities, urban and rural, across England. Communities that will stand the test of time and in which people want to live," Mr Prescott wrote in the report.

Launching the plan, the government identified key requirements of a sustainable community, 

Later on definition established which states that: "Sustainable communities meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, their children and other users, contribute to a high quality of life and provide opportunity and choice. They achieve this in ways that make effective use of natural resources, enhance the environment, promote social cohesion and inclusion and strengthen economic prosperity."

Delivering better communities requires not only the professional skills of planning, architecture and surveying, but also a broad range of "generic skills" - behavior and knowledge such as governance of communities, economic planning, communication, risk-taking, leadership and partnership working.

Sustainble community Development

People will be taking with them the positives and negatives but its the duty of planners, designers, economists, urban planners, architects, land developers to creatively use the capacity of urbanization and housing development so that the least of bad impact should be given back. as we look into the human history now more than half of the population live in urban environments and people are aiming to opt this migration more rapidly in the coming years.

Climate change, peaking oil supplies, increasing levels of pollution, scarcity of fresh water, 

biodiversity loss, toxic food scares etc all these are the gifts among the new technology, new urban developments, mega wonders of high rise construction, reaching heights in building technology. So this is affecting our every day living and each and every small thing we do is getting affecting badly by it. people don't have smile on their faces as always in rush to reach office on time, then to drop children to school on time. everything is in hustle  & bustle.

So now the world has got to know the need for sustainable communities. people are now aware that they have to do something on their own to make their living style better. one small deed from every house towards making better neighborhoods is yet going to make a very positive difference. People participation can improve the housing design and planning remarkably as no planner or developer is having any idea of needs more than the user itself of that particular space.

Organizations internationally and locally working on the principles and concepts of sustainable communities. awareness programs have been conducted to make general public to get alert for their rights and living. 

A new report from the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC), a national center of excellence for sustainable communities skills and knowledge, has identified a "significant shortage of qualified professionals with the necessary skills" to deliver sustainable communities between now and 2012. Communication and know-how is the basis to start work for sustainable communities. as such type of communities can only be better served by force of people living inside it. No other external authority or council is going to have impact but the internal association, internal council of the developed community has to take the charge.

Policy defines it as "a place where people want to live and work, now and in the future". 

Some of the general principles of sustainable communities are: Ecological Protection Density & Urban Design Urban Infill Village Centres Local Economy Sustainable Transport Affordable Housing Livable Community Sewage & Stormwater . Water . Energy Case Study:  Village Homes, Davis, California  When Village Homes was built in the 1970s, the local realtors refused to show anyone round the 70 acre, 240 home development because they didn’t think anyone would want to live there. There were no front roads, no storm drains, and the houses all faced the same way - for solar gain. Today, it is one of the most sought-after subdivisions in Davis, and Coldwell Banker Residential identified Village Homes as "Davis’s most desirable subdivision".  Design Features ·         ECOLOGICAL PROTECTION: 12 acres of greenbelt & open space; 12 acres of common agricultural land. ·         DENSITY & URBAN DESIGN: A whole-systems approach to design. The houses are clustered into groups of 8 and are surrounded by common space. The early residents were responsible for the landscaping and design of the green space in front of their housing clusters.  ·         LOCAL ECONOMY: 4000 square feet of commercial office space. Thanks to the agricultural space, by 1989, much of the Village Homes residents’ food was being grown in the neighbourhood.  ·         TRANSPORTATION: Vehicle access is by the back lanes only, with pedestrian lanes for walking and cycling. The "front streets" are designed by the residents as grassy areas, gardens with shrubs, etc. Pedestrian paths and traffic calming designs with narrow streets encourage a strong sense of community and high property values. ·         LIVABLE COMMUNITIES: The local Homeowners Association owns and manages the household commons, greenbelt commons, agricultural lands and the community center, and handles the revenues from office space and some rental units. There are frequent community events, and 80% of the residents participate in community activities. ·         SEWAGE & STORMWATER: The narrower streets produce less stormwater run-off, which is handled by simple infiltration swales and on-site detention basins instead of storm drains, saving nearly $200,000 (1980 dollars). These savings were invested into public parks, walkways, gardens and other amenities. ·         ENERGY: All the houses are passive solar designed, with natural cooling and solar hot water. The overall design, with reduced pavement and more space for trees, lowers ambient air temperature and reduces the need for air-conditioning. Annual household bills are 1/2 to 1/3rd less than those of surrounding neighbourhoods, because of the locally grown food and the energy savings.

Universal Design.. A concept of justice in Design!

Universal Design:

Universal design comprises of very strong words together. One is universal and one is design. Being universal is based on the concept of equal and justified access to everyone, everything without any discrimination.

The other word design refers to the planned solution serving in its best way. So one can easily understand that by universal design in terms of architectural language, it means that the design being proposed for any problem ( landscape area planning, interior design planning, building space planning, etc) should be accessible to each and every user of the building without any segregation. It implies the principle of equality and justice.

Today, architects planners designers all have understood the importance of universal design and they have come up with defining principles of universal design; the term usually called UD. The universal design is mostly called by accessible design too. and it is for everyone. this concept is applicable to all disciplines of designing while its electronics, furniture, food, advertisements, parks, buildings and the list goes on. The countries across the globe have started to include the implementation of UD in their building codes and regulations and they make it sure about the practical application of such acts. Penalty and fines also have been defined for further governance of accessible design of building & infrastructure.

The above image is taken from website: http://www.universaldesign.com. The website comes up with the concept of all possibilities to make universal design theory workable in built environment, urban planning, transportation, architecture.Since 1993, Universal Design News network has been educating and informing people about the value of Universal Design, accessibility and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

The Centre for Universal Design CUD (http://www.ncsu.edu) in collaboration with college of Design, North Caroline State Universtiy is a national information, technical assistance, and research center that evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal design in housing, commercial and public facilities, outdoor environments, and products.  The mission is to improve environments and products through design innovation, research, education and design assistance.

CUD has developed seven principles of UD. the graphical format is listed below:

Principles of Universal Design - CUD- College of Design- NC State University

Design Features to be treated with UD principles:

The common features which come into UD guidelines and principles are: ramps, staircase, flooring details, the clearance for walking etc. Maturity in the concept of Universal Design can be easily viewed from developed standards and specifications in terms of dimensions, materials, spaces for :

• washrooms for disable people
• car parking spacing for 
• stairs & ramp gradient slopes
• flooring details
• maintaining the height clearance for human body

The UD Concept not only facilitates the disable people but also the normal people. Its the safety purpose for people with or without disabilities as when one is out of the house they don't pay much attention to small detailing where is the ramp or staircase, as the world is in hurry and people are always short of time and they want to make most out of it. So building should be acting as kind shelters and source of guidance for its users. It should come with the directional and guiding feature for all of its users and visitors without any stigmatization in terms of age, gender, physical ability. This concept is already being applied in the developed countries and now the developing countries are also focusing on how to incorporate and implement the accessibility of design into their infrastructure and architecture of buildings to maintain the good health of its people in long lasting terms.

Creative City Concept... A well needed CCC Term by Developing Countries

A new concept in urban and city planning is being introduced to us in RPK 538 (Sustainable Development Planning) by energetic guest lecturer Khoo Suet Leng ( SENIOR LECTURER & PROGRAMME CHAIRPERSON, DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT PROGRAM SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, USM ) and it is "Creative City Concept". 

The term itself is very striking and appealing as it initiates very first thought comes in mind is about how a city can behave or act creatively. As the creative term is being mostly associated with humans or some arts / painting kind of things. A city is a living organism with roads, infrastructures, developed and developing urban settlements along with humans , flora & fauna as its blood. So such complex structure can be a source of creativity in terms of sustainable development.

Well may be its new to developing countries but developed countries like USA and UK have actually implemented this concept in New York, San Francisco, London emerging out to be successful creative cities.

Coming to the basics of creative city, it is the one and its kind of city  which has independent identity, uniqueness and self generating opportunity feature. It has its own identity and it is capable of using the hard infrastructure ( roads, bridges, buildings) and soft infrastructure ( arts, culture, man power) in a creative way. Creative entity is one which can generate on its own and is not dependent for some outsourcing. This is the what the today worlds mantra or slogan: be creative. whether its a small electronic chip to a dress designer shop, some pastry or cakes or a bulding facade now everything has definition with impression of creativity included.

 According to Canadian Harcourt Committee there are four pillars for creative sustainbility of a city:

• Economic prosperity
• Social equity
• Environmental sustainability
• Cultual vitality

The new added pillar "culture" is of great importance as it is the most creative feature of a city if it is provided with proper workplan and care then arts & culture altogether creates opportunities for development, urban settlement, employment , tourism and consequently makes it attraction point for foreign investment for potential projects. 

Cities across the globe have got name and popularity in terms of cultural notions. 

Appointed Cities of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network:

•CITY OF LITERATURE   (Edinburgh, Melbourne, Dublin)

•CITY OF FILM/CINEMA  (Bradford, Sydney)

•CITY OF MUSIC  (Seville, Bologna, Glasgow, Ghent)

•CITY OF CRAFTS & FOLK ART  (Santa Fe, Aswan, Kanazawa, Incheon)

•CITY OF DESIGN  (Buenos Aires, Berlin, Montreal, Kobe, Seoul)

•CITY OF MEDIA ARTS  (Lyon)

•CITY OF GASTRONOMY  (Popayan, Chengdu, Ostersund)

The key persons to work for the concept of creative cities are Charles Landry and Richard Florida. Both names are well known for their valuable additions to this concept. Charles Landry along with his colleague developed "creative city index."

Furthermore in recent years, ‘creative industries, creative cities’  motto garnered importance in developmental agendas of developed and developing nations. Recent example of developing creative city is Singapore where one can observe handsome use of the workforce while locating them in intellectual fields of science & IT, culture, industries. 

if you want to shine on the surface of world, you need to be creative in your own ways. Same applies for urban development of cities. 

Case of George town, Penang Malaysia

Last but not least there is overview of transforming penang into creative city taking the case of George town, based on paper presented during ICBEDC conference, 6-7 December 2011 by khoo suet leng and nurwati badarulzaman (Universiti Sains Malaysia). george town being declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO since july 2008 has the great potential in turning the city of penang into creative industrial hub with perspective of creative city. This is possible if proper work and planning done on the following pillars  / dimensions:

• Human capital (educating the workforce in terms of art and cultural belongings & skills)
• Diversity (city should keep open for diverse ways for travelling and communication)
• Social and cultural environment (insufficent facilities for art, theatre and cultural activities, it should be upgraded)
• Institutional envrionment (Government should be divided into organizational sectors)
• Technology (IT and technology aspect should be included in every sector of administration and education)

Environmental Conservation- Considering Local Context

Like every class of elective course RPK 538 (Sustainable Development Planning) in MSc Housing at School of housing, building & Planning (HBP) - USM, the third week of the course work also had to offer something new and exciting. There was presentation on topic of Environmental Conservation by Guest Lecturer Dr Normah Abd. Latip taking the case of Kinabatangan Village, Sabah.

We were expecting presentation by lecturer, but she being quite smart speaker, asked us to discuss the different aspects of environmental conservation locally and globally and then give a presentation in form of groups. I were called by mates of MSc Housing to join their group.

This sudden call for presentation moved everyone in the class to think and open the closed gates of mind to vision and beyond the superficial things to initiate the investigation with perspective of environment and conservation.

I, with my group mates, started to note the points of what is environment and conservation, how we percieve it. everyone coming up with their education background started relating things accordingly. like i am an architect coming up with the knowledge of built environment , how man made structures are utlizing the environment and . i noted the points for my country including different issues like

• how the cities or housing schemes can be planned!
• pollution and traffic jam giving longing for continued hours of driving and oil consumption no proper waste disposal
• glass blocks buildings with no inclusion of green technology (grass, planters, water features)
• and then how this can be resolved being planners.

But before all this details a thought provoked that what is environment and conservation and then what is the combined term of both i.e Environmental conservation.
We being the first group called upon by the lecturer, me and my group mate Kamal decided to represent the group of four: nurul, anisah, kamal and sana (me). i started to talk firstly about the some raw definition of environmental conservation (dividing it up into two parts: environment and conserve).

After that, being into designing and planning studies, i started to describe different issues in Pakistan within the cities in context of housing schemes. People are not well educated and well informed about environment.
coal burning, tree cutting is common and people in slums don't even the know the term of global warming or what it means and how badly its affecting our planet.

Then when it comes to circle of educated people, they like to keep their homes clean only as they have no concern about the cleanliness of the road. they throw the garbage outside the house in ill mannered way which creates lot of problems later on.

Some recommendations for conserving environment in Pakistan:

Keeping the garbage bag outside every house and putting a plenty on it for not using it, and then disposing off the bags on daily basis by development authority will definitely keep a check and balance on healthy environment.
Then encouraging the green pockets after a regular interval contributes to the lowering of the temperature. giving a healthy impact.
Locating the immediate daily based needs like school, hospitals, departmental stores near the residential zones will assist in less usage of cars and fuel as people will prefer walking and cycling ultimately contributing to people health.
Hopefully if some of the above mentioned points are being implemented by people on their own self-basis then it is going to benefit in a very positive way.

An Overview Part I... Development Asia (Year III, Number V1 January–March 2010)

The title Urban Development in Asia...(Asia’s cities will house an estimated 2.2 billion by 2020.

Can the region’s economic growth continue without a sustainable plan for its mega cities ) covers the aspects like:  

• The Upside of Slums in Development
• Thailand’s Mr. Condom Works Between the Navel and the Knees
• Viet Nam Tries to Break the Mold
• Revamping old Asia

• Moreover, image to the right is complete summary of the edition. 

An Overview with Perspective of Increasing population & Urban Poverty in Mega cities of Asia

The world has entered the urban millennium. nearly half of the world's people are now city dwellers and rapid increase in urban population is expected to continue, mainly in developing countries. This historic transition is further prompted by powerful forces of globalization and technological innovation.

The different approaches to give a green effect to urbanization process will be discussed in this blog. when the word urbanization comes, Asia is the most striking place where we can find it in its pure and progressive form.

Vietnamese got lot of benefits by urbanization which helped in growing their economic graph and getting employment. China's perspective of taking rural farmers and locating them to urban areas facilitating to build up the High Rise Structures is an optimistic program of vast urbanization. 

Urban poor has been observed a great percentage of increase in Nigeria, Philippines, Pakistan , India etc. blaming the urban poor for current dilemma of malfunctioning of mega cities is not the solution. we cannot even blame the urban poor as its a human nature to keep attracted towards the circle of opportunity and this is what big cities (with handsome scope of employment and development) offering them.

"World Bank" point of view can be interpreted in the way that its possible to control the environment if basic facilities are provided based on the calculation of population.

Migrating of rural people is also the thirst of urban areas for rapid development as migrants at times play positive role in benefiting them rather than hurting developed areas. Asian Cities are going to house about 2.2 billion people by 2020. so the question is can regional economic growth continued to maintain without sustainable plan for mega cities. 

According to UN-Habitat: 47% of pakistan, 41% of veitnames and 32.8% of chinese lived in urban slums in 2005. and now this is making the situation more difficult as land development sectors have increased the property prices because of its high demand. this inflation of property has forced people to live in slums. Mumbai (India) land prices are so high that its even difficult for middle class to find anything other than slums.

Mr Acioly (UN-Habitat) put light on role played by NGO in Asia. According to him: "NGO play an operational role in urban development rather than being part of decision making process. Even individual or community based participation is lacking in Asia- in contrast to Latin America where practice is common."

Cities are a more attractive place to find employment, regardless of all problems."

Emiel Wegelin, Prog Coordinator

Our world is changing, and its changing very fast. The urbanization and globalization is non reversible process as people are always going to contribute in it to achieve the goals like a good house, nice job and a car. Going green is the new defense policy to achieve sustainable environment in mega cities specially where there is less use of energy and more production of energy, transportation system with good urban planning.

One very important aspect is above all of the discussed remedies and it is the good Governance policy. Governance or a check keep things aligned and going in the right direction. When it comes to urbanizing policies, then it becomes compulsory to maintain the existing sources rather than planting modern bodies of planning. Unless a precise and honest governing authority not formalized, the implementation of the urban planing projects is out of question.

Increasing Population

The promise of jobs and prosperity, among other factors, pulls people to cities. Half of the global population already lives in cities, and by 2050 two-thirds of the world's people are expected to live in urban areas. But in cities two of the most pressing problems facing the world today also come together: poverty and environmental degradation.

Poor air and water quality, insufficient water availability, waste-disposal problems, and high energy consumption are exacerbated by the increasing population density and demands of urban environments. Strong city planning will be essential in managing these and other difficulties as the world's urban areas swell.

Threats

• Intensive urban growth can lead to greater poverty, with local governments unable to provide services for all people.
• Concentrated energy use leads to greater air pollution with significant impact on human health.
• Automobile exhaust produces elevated lead levels in urban air.
• Large volumes of uncollected waste create multiple health hazards.
• Urban development can magnify the risk of environmental hazards such as flash flooding.
• Pollution and physical barriers to root growth promote loss of urban tree cover.
• Animal populations are inhibited by toxic substances, vehicles, and the loss of habitat and food sources.

Solutions

• Combat poverty by promoting economic development and job creation.
• Involve local community in local government.
• Reduce air pollution by upgrading energy use and alternative transport systems.
• Create private-public partnerships to provide services such as waste disposal and housing.
• Plant trees and incorporate the care of city green spaces as a key element in urban planning.

More can be find out at : 

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/urban-threats2/