The most ancient science of health, Ayurveda, describes cities as 'an open sore that never heals'. Cities draw resources from everywhere and return very little back to the source, hugely imbalancing every natural cycle. Cities are only centres of consumption with a pretence to development and progress, while actually returning very little back to the environment, except large-scale pollution. Decisions to combat climate change and environmental degradation are made by urban policy-makers with little involvement of those who are largely linked to nature and those who really matter the most-Farmers, country dwellers, close to nature societies, indigenous communities.Cities also take up a major chunk of infrastructure funding in the name of 'development'.
For those who contest the above, when a sick person needs healing, he is advised a rest in the 'country', away from the 'din of the city' to recover. 'Kurs' or health spas are located in natural surroundings for fresh air and contact with nature, sorely missing in the urban milieu. Nature thus clearly favors the countryside rather than the urban imbalance. Are cities, with lopsided ethics of unnatural living, preserved food and ill-health, false glamour & wrong priorities of what is more important in life, anonymous living with almost no relations with the neighbors, a unbalanced way of living and thus unsustainable? For cities to be sustainable, should there be more cyclical flow of resources rather than a unidirectional resource flow of hedonistic consumption, more giving than taking?
I guess most cities in the world are unsustainable in the short or long term. Some cities, such as Copenhagen, have plan to sustain and to grow towards greener and greener; and they are doing well in the footprint / CO2 reduction, along with waste and water management. Best regards.
Density has both environmental benefits and costs. For example dense environments often can be travelled far more efficiently than less dense ones and thus use less energy for transport. There can also be economies of scale in heating, land use, housing of the population etc. As one example, New York City in the US has a lower per capita environmental footprint than most other US cities largely because of lower housing space per capita and widespread mass transit usage all of which flows from its density. So I would say that cities do not have to be unsustainable if they are designed properly. But of course ensuring that happens is a political and social challenge.
Dear Raveendra,
One needs to be careful to consider what exactly is the boundary of a city in this context. If you think of municipal boundaries then cites are a net loss for just about everything other than culture and knowledge. If you think of a larger area, then cities, through knowledge and relatively centralized production are more complementary with respect to resources.
In the North American (rather unsustainable) context, city users typically consume fewer resources per capita then rural people. This ranges from transportation, heating, land, etc.. So the largest benefit is that city dwellers are not spread out over a larger area doing even more damage! That said, city dwellers are not necessarily more dangerous to the environment then farmers. Historically there are even beneficial movements (such as the park movement, or greenpeace) that have far more urban support than rural support.
So, as much as you seem to have made up your mind before even posing a question, do keep an open mind.
Bruce:
N.American farmers are anything but close-to-nature. You are right in saying that they are not better off than city dwellers when it comes to sustainability. But the exception does not prove the rule. I had close-to-nature farmers and societies in mind, who live off the land.
In anyway you look at it, cities work out to be unsustainable. Designing a highly efficient city would seem to be an appropriate answer, but honestly, has it ever worked out,except on paper?
Regards
George,
City based industries are unsustainable, taking all from the countryside and giving very little in return to fill the vacuum created. And please ponder over why sick people from the city are advised to take a vacation in the countryside?
Regards
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