A day to look at urban sprawl.
Urbanization is one of the world's most transformative
trends. Over half the world's population now live in cities and this number is
expected to double within 30 years posing many problems related not only to
housing all these people but the implications for the environment, both local
and global now and in the future. With
this in mind the UN has given today's World Cities day the theme “Changing the
world: innovations and better life for future generations” opening the
discussion on how urbanization can be used to achieve sustainable
development. At first glance this
appears an impossible task but by changing the way new cities are planned,
designed and managed and altering the ways in which existing cities are manged
and developed we can turn them into a force for good and even increase our
greenspace and connections with nature in the process.
Earlier this year London was named as the world's first
National Park City recognised for its rich biodiversity, amazing heritage and
breadth of cultures. The movement aims to have 25 such national park cities by
2025 where individuals commit to making it better, cleaner and wilder. In the
process, they boost biodiversity and improve not only their own health by being
more active outdoors, but bring benefits for all with cleaner air, cleaner
water and improved resilience against heat and heavy downpours. Showing that our urban sprawl can also be an
integral part of our green and pleasant land.
More about London's National Park City designation and the
movement in this article written for CJS in August this year.
UN World Cities Day resources can be found here.