Sustainable urbanism
[1] Well-being includes the physical, ecological, economic, social, health and equity factors, among others, that comprise cities and their populations.
According to Farr, this approach aims to eliminate environmental impacts of urban development by supplying and providing all resources locally.
The full life cycle of services and public goods such as electricity and food are evaluated from production to consumption with the intent of eliminating waste or environmental externalities.
Also, critics believe that, while the New Urbanism contains many attractive ideas, it may have difficulty dealing with a wide range of contemporary issues including scale, transportation, planning and codes, regionalism, and marketing.
Sustainable Urbanism, on the other hand, is more focused on designing communities that are walkable and transit-served so that people will prefer to meet their daily needs on foot.
Such low-density development is a characteristic of urban sprawl, which is the major cause of high dependence on private automobiles, inefficient infrastructure, increased obesity, loss of farmlands and natural habitats, pollution, and so on.
Concentrating development density in and around transit stops and corridors maximizes people's willingness to walk and thus reduces car ownership and use.
Building construction and operation generates a great deal of ‘externalized costs’ such as material waste, energy inefficiencies and pollution.
New York City Department of Design & Construction put out a set of guidelines in April 1999 on High performance buildings that have broad application to sustainable urbanism as a whole worldwide.
This process looks at optimum orientation and maximizes the thermal efficiency of the building envelope (windows, walls, roof) while also considering the interaction of the HVAC, lighting, and control systems.
This results in direct energy cost savings (fuel and electricity) yield a good rate of return based on the initial investment.
Improve indoor air quality by eliminating unhealthy emissions – such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – from building materials, products, and furnishings, and through outside filtering and distribution techniques that control pollutants.
Results in high performance facilities can help address a wide range of human resource concerns by improving the total quality of the interior environment.
Such ‘well building’ design emphasis can improve occupant comfort, health, and well-being, in turn reducing employee absenteeism and turnover.
[25][26] At the single-component level, standard details may be improved to optimize performance, minimize environmental impact, use materials more efficiently or extended lifecycle.
Examples include using reclaimed supplementary cement materials to increase pavement strength or designing water-efficient landscapes to reduce irrigation needs and water consumption.
Improving single components does not consider the whole system in place, so multifunctional optimization guidelines seek to minimize conflicts among parts and promote synergies.
Current leading examples as of 2018, which need to be described and explained here in greater detail, include the Hammarby Sjöstad district in Stockholm, Sweden, Freiburg, Germany, BedZED in Hackbridge, Sutton England, a suburb of London,[27] and Serenbe near Atlanta, Georgia in the US.
Key Sustainable Urbanism Thresholds: Dongtan is a development in Eastern Chongming Island, which is roughly a one-hour trip from downtown Shanghai.
[29] Key sustainable urbanism thresholds: Upton is part of the southwest district of Northampton, England, lying between the existing town edge and the motorway.
Originally farming land, Upton was developed by English Partnerships, the national regeneration agency for England, with high standards of building and design codes.
[32] The IGLUS Project at EPFL is a global action research network which is aimed at improving performance of cities in the areas of efficiency, resilience and sustainability by promoting more innovative governance approaches in urban infrastructure systems.
[33] The Eco Cities Project at the University of Manchester (UK) is a research organization developing and validating sustainable urbanism practices.
