A Future of Green and Circular Cities

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By Dominique Bonte | 3Q 2019 | IN-5576

Sustainability is a key and growing dimension of the smart cities conundrum. It is now generally agreed that cities will play a critical role in meeting sustainability objectives, due to their innate ability to offer services to large, dense urban populations ultra-effectively and with minimal environmental impact through a range of paradigms, such as the sharing economy, distributed micro-grids, carbon-neutral or -negative buildings, and extreme forms of waste management and recycling, ultimately leading to fully circular urban economies. The dimension of circularity goes much further than what has been talked about so far in terms of sustainability in urban environments, such as zero-emission Electric Vehicles (EVs), air quality monitoring and control, and measures related to climate change. It is about turning entire cities into circular entities, eliminating their “outside of the city” footprints entirely by achieving large degrees of self-support and self-sufficiency in areas like energy generation.

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Cities at the Vanguard of Global Sustainability Efforts

NEWS


Sustainability is a key and growing dimension of the smart cities conundrum. It is now generally agreed that cities will play a critical role in meeting sustainability objectives, due to their innate ability to offer services to large, dense urban populations ultra-effectively and with minimal environmental impact through a range of paradigms, such as the sharing economy, distributed micro-grids, carbon-neutral or -negative buildings, and extreme forms of waste management and recycling, ultimately leading to fully circular urban economies.

The dimension of circularity goes much further than what has been talked about so far in terms of sustainability in urban environments, such as zero-emission Electric Vehicles (EVs), air quality monitoring and control, and measures related to climate change. It is about turning entire cities into circular entities, eliminating their “outside of the city” footprints entirely by achieving large degrees of self-support and self-sufficiency in areas like energy generation.

From Green Urban Infrastructure to Circular Cities

IMPACT


Major new urban paradigms are being evaluated to mitigate some of the most urgent urban risks and challenges in terms of resilience and sustainability. Incorporating green infrastructure into the urban fabric is one of them. Everything from parks and green spaces to new building concepts that incorporate vertical gardens are now part of future greenfield city concepts. Benefits include better resilience against flooding, better air quality, improved wastewater management and local drinking water reserves, in addition to recreational use and health improvement. Green infrastructure (flood plains, forests, overflow wetlands, farmland, green spaces) can, to some extent, take over the role of “gray” infrastructure (dams, utilities distribution networks, treatment facilities) in a more cost-effective way, using nature’s inherent capabilities to store and purify water, reduce flood risks, offer coastal protection, and provide more resilience against other extreme weather events such as heat waves. Green urban infrastructure should be linked to and embedded in the surrounding suburban and rural areas outside the cities’ boundaries. Cities need to start viewing their green infrastructure as real assets that need to be documented, managed, and optimized. Incorporating them into urban models and digital twins is essential. 

However, the possibility of something much more ambitious is now starting to appear on the radar of urban futurologists: turning cities into independent circular economies in which value creation does not come at the cost of exhausting limited resources and irreversibly impacting the environment, as opposed to linear economies generating structural waste. Sharing, recycling, repairing, refurbishing, and repurposing materials, assets, and natural resources are guiding principles of circular economies, not just from an operational but also a design perspective. Cities need to be architected from scratch according to the restorative and regenerative circular paradigms.

Some critical dimensions of circular urban economies are listed below:

  • Electrification of Transportation and Freight: Zero-emission vehicles and airborne mobility and delivery solutions.
  • Renewable Energy Micro- and Nano-Grids: Distributed and embedded generation of local energy.
  • Ultra-Energy Efficient Systems and Devices
  • Green Infrastructure: Discussed above.
  • Concept of Carbon-Neutral or -Negative Buildings Extended to Entire Cities
  • Waste Management and Recycling: This is a fundamental aspect of circular economies, and includes the exclusive use of recyclable materials, the banning of single-use plastics, leveraging the bio-economy in terms of deriving energy resources from waste, the adoption of reusable building materials, and the reduction of imported raw resources.
  • Virtualization: Move services like education and healthcare away from central brick-and-mortar locations to remote, online delivery models.
  • Water Generation, Recycling, Treatment, and Purification
  • Local Manufacturing and Distrubution of Goods: 3D printing/additive manufacturing and the reduction of long-distance transporation.
  • Local Food Production: Local gardens.
  • Leveraging the Sharing Economy to Maximize Assert Utlization Rates: Mobility and freight, energy, accommodation, telecommunication, etc.

Localization is at the heart of circular economies. This should be seen within the context of the growing limitations of globalization in terms of geopolitical instability, climate change, and sustainability.

Technology-Enabled Circular Cities: Utopian or Imminent?

RECOMMENDATIONS


With the sustainability and climate change clocks ticking fast, cities need to live up to the challenge of their responsibilities. The ultimate response is the creation of circular cities, the end game of the smart cities journey, which requires a holistic approach centered on the functioning of urban economies. A range of technologies that have recently become available are bringing the promise of circularity ever closer: digital twins for advanced urban modeling, cross-vertical Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, 5G, blockchain, robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled automation and demand-response management and optimization, EV battery technology, and, beyond the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) realm, materials and human sciences innovations. Creating ultra/uber-efficient urban fabrics is edging closer to reality.

However, it’s an illusion to believe full urban circularity can be achieved in an increasingly ultra-global and interconnected context. Not all materials, assets, and resources simply aren’t available locally. However, this does not take anything away from the need to strive towards achieving as much “urban circularity” as possible. Every step change in increasing the share of circular urban economic output will have a huge impact on global sustainability. Optimizing and maximizing local circular economies will become a fundamental cornerstone of urban policies as the influence of cities on key national policies will continue to grow. It is not an exaggeration to state that the fate of the world rests in the hands of cities.

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