How to build sustainable cities for a quality economic growth
According to the Vision 2050 from WBCSD, today, "we have what is needed to live well, within the limits of the planet: the scientific knowledge, proven and emerging technologies, financial assets and instant communications".
Nevertheless, our societies are on a dangerous unsustainable track. More than half the world’s population lives in cities. By 2030, WHO has projected that 6 in 10 people will be urban dwellers while the UN estimates that 98% of this growth will happening the developing and emerging world. How will business sustainability be impacted by this rapid urbanisation? What are the risks and the opportunities?
Risk: Societies on a dangerous unsustainable track
Cities are important centres of business activity, providing companies with concentrated populations of potential customers and employees. Poorly designed cities put barriers in the way of doing business effectively. Rapid urbanization has brought enormous challenges, including extreme poverty, housing shortages and slum settlements, increased air pollution, waste management, and inadequate basic services and infrastructure, which also make cities more vulnerable to disasters.
For instance, the rapid urbanisation and unplanned urban sprawl, with lack of infrastructure are risks for businesses:
Air and water pollution and waste dumps and its inadequate management have adverse impacts on public health that will affect in the absenteeism rate and increase of labour costs.
Another drawback of unsustainable cities is the lack of effective transport and reliable communications infrastructure that influence commuting, affecting the quality of life of employees and potentially causing absenteeism through late arrival in the office, accidents, etc.
Emerging businesses opportunities on building safe cities
The transformation ahead represents vast opportunities in a broad range of business segments. Opportunities range from developing and maintaining low-carbon, zero-waste cities, mobility and infrastructure (building, water and sewage) to improving and managing biocapacity, ecosystems, lifestyles and livelihoods. This transformation not only means opportunities for business but also improvement on productivity.
To harvest such opportunity, the infrastructure required will come from the construction of safe and affordable housing and basic services with new and recycled construction materials and based on passive solar design. An example is, Bioregional, that in 2002 completed BedZED the first UK's large-scale eco-village that continues being a source of inspiration on reducing climate changing greenhouse gas and water use. According to BedZED, water consumption per resident is about 50% of the London average.
Building circular cities for a more inclusive future
The urban circular economy model is gaining strength as a solution that would help people to live decent lives within the planetary boundaries while still creating economic growth. In a circular economy model, resources are in a closed loop as long as possible minimizing the need of raw materials. This alternative to the linear economy switches the old paradigm of "take-make-waste" businesses models into ones that "reduce-reuse-recycle", optimising resources.
New business opportunities arise such as those that reuse waste by closing the material loop using waste as an input and resource, eliminating waste accumulation on land, in air or in water generating a whole new economy based on the reuse and recycle of products and waste. For instance, ReBin, a Swiss organisation founded in November 2016, is transforming organic agricultural and household waste into biogas and as a result is revalorising waste in Benin.
Public-Private Partnerships needed to make cities inclusive, resilient and sustainable
To move towards solving complex sustainability challenges, businesses will need to form partnerships and coalitions to help make the change happen. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) can boost collaboration and knowledge sharing on interdependent systems to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” to reach SDG 11. A holistic approach is required based on innovation and deployment of solutions from urban design and planning to management as well as education to citizens and business to make the urban spaces more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
We invite you to share your experiences and good practices making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Get in touch with us at info@sustainability-tribe.com and join our community on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Josefina Espinosa, Business Sustainability Consultant @JoEspMart
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not The Sustainability Tribe.
The Sustainability Tribe is a network of independent sustainability consultants, helping organizations make their first steps towards Sustainability.
