Five Ways Cities Can Fight Climate Change
How cities can solve some of our biggest problems
The talk about climate solutions is normally centered around the national or individual. We expect a country to provide the answers by creating things like a carbon tax. Or we put the responsibility on the individual; we should recycle more or maybe switch from a Toyota Highlander to a Prius (although this is mostly folly considering who emits the most).
But if you look at the numbers and consider the potential for change, cities may be our best chance to protect our climate. By some estimates, cities are responsible for more than 70% of greenhouse gasses. According to Robert Muggah in the World Economic Forum, cities also house over four billion people, and that figure is expected to rise to 6.5 billion by 2050. As the century moves along, cities can make several policy changes that just might address our planet’s biggest issues. Here are just a few of them.
- Make Cities Walkable.
If there is one policy goal that encapsulates aspects of all others, it’s making cities walkable. There are a couple of ways of doing this, but the first and necessary change is mixed-use zoning. That means allowing a grocery store, office, and home to all be on the same block. Or at least very close to one another. The killer to walkability is regimented zoning. If you need to travel from one neighborhood to the other just to get a carton of milk, chances are your city is too spread out. Urban sprawl is the sickness, mixed-use is the antidote.
Urban sprawl leads to increased air pollution, an overreliance on cars, increased city-service costs, worse physical and mental health outcomes, and of course the destruction of our natural environment.
If we are to address climate change, we need to address urban sprawl.
2. Green Our Cities.
In other words, plant more trees. Let the grass grow. This might be the easiest of all the public policy changes cities can make, and it gives the best bang-for-buck as well. By planting more trees along our roads, installing micro-parks throughout our downtowns, and wilding unused green spaces, we get an impressive amount in return.
The increased plant life betters air quality by retaining carbon dioxide and dust particulates. The increased tree cover reduces the cities temperature and addresses urban heat islands. The added surface covered by soils and plant life also betters our drainage and sewer systems. More greenery even reduces stress.
3. Improve Public Transport
Although relatively obvious, this solution is a no-brainer for good reason.
Transportation makes up the largest share of fossil fuel energy use in cities. Because more people can fit into a train or bus than a car, it just becomes a numbers game. It is more efficient. In fact, one report found that using public transport instead of a private car can be one of the most significant changes a household can make to alter their carbon footprint.
Another byproduct of public transport is it can actually increase density, as future development often occurs around public transit hubs, concentrating housing and commercial life.
4. Put Cars in Their Place.
A term coined by New Urbanist Jeff Speck, putting cars in their places is one of those changes that makes all the other policies above more effective. The way that most cities are set up, especially in North America, Africa, and the Middle East, make cars King of the Road. Pedestrians are relegated to a tiny sliver of asphalt — highways, downtowns, and zoning are shaped around the convenience of cars.
If public transit is going to improve, or urban areas are to be more walkable, cars must be demoted from their throne.
5. The Power of the Purse
Maybe the most humdrum but consequential of the five, cities can utilize the power of their budget and procurement responsibilities. Cities have enormous sway when it comes not only to their finances, but their facilities as well. By setting strict benchmarks across the spectrum, cities can ensure that all their new purchases, from buses to windows, are sustainable.
They can do this by using more renewable electricity or other green technologies, or through updating the buildings and transportation under a city government’s umbrella. Seattle, for example, will only use electric cars in their fleet by 2030.
For cities with more discretionary income like Los Angeles, investments in electric vehicle infrastructure are one way to do it. Even making things as obscure as waste management more efficient can have a huge impact.
The seemingly inconsequential things can make a big difference: The type of cement and concrete cities use, putting solar panels on any new parking garage, even the color of paint we use for buildings. In isolation, each project is not going to change the carbon footprint of a city, but on a scale of hundreds of cities across the world, the effect can be massive. It won’t be a panacea to our climate issues, but it will certainly make a dent.
