Cities are at the epicenter of climate change. Cities must take charge by leading with innovative sustainability initiatives and taking effective climate action measures that build resilient communities.
Sustainable infrastructure refers to equipment and systems designed to fulfill essential service requirements while being compliant with environmental considerations. Examples include green roofs, rain gardens, urban forests and other structures which help reduce energy consumption, flood risk, air pollution emissions and carbon emissions.
Green Infrastructure
Green infrastructure is an emerging movement to harness nature in urban settings to reduce their environmental impacts and decrease energy use. It includes practices such as rain gardens, permeable pavements, infiltration planters, green roofs/walls, revitalized wetlands/park systems/river corridors.
Compare to gray infrastructure, these systems tend to be cheaper and more resilient – they reduce flood risks such as sanitary sewer backups or property damage while improving local water quality.
At a larger scale, these methods are better for wildlife as they allow time for pollutants to break down while providing improved habitats and creating jobs in construction, engineering, landscaping and design. On an even grander scale, green infrastructure plays a vital role in regional and metropolitan planning ensuring sustainable environments and healthy communities; such as parks and open spaces; waterways; forests; wetlands; greenways and roads as well as street trees, allotments or private gardens as well as repurposed alleys or railways and revitalized wetlands.
Energy Efficiency
Sustainable urban infrastructure that uses less energy is key to mitigating environmental impact, with benefits such as green spaces, water efficiency and renewable energy being among its many features. Furthermore, taking into account future generations is also vitally important.
Well-planned urbanization can enable us to expand without jeopardizing our quality of life. Instead of creating slums, traffic jams and greenhouse gases, urbanization can open doors of opportunity, prosperity and social stability while safeguarding a healthier environment.
Chicago is a leader in sustainable practices, having created and implemented Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Guidelines which promote cutting-edge sustainable practices across its transportation right-of-way projects. These guidelines, in conjunction with the recently issued Complete Streets Chicago Design Guidelines, establish a process for integrating environmental performance goals into all CDOT projects. These guidelines include detailed requirements, strategies and resources designed to assist project managers, resident engineers and stakeholders achieve set goals. Once implemented across City departments and agencies, these guidelines will serve as guidance on how to incorporate sustainability into everyday work activities.
Resilience
Resilience refers to a community’s capacity to adapt and recover from natural or man-made disasters, climate change or other environmental challenges. Communities can build resilience through sustainable practices like green space preservation, walkability promotion and mixed use development projects.
Urban design features like rain gardens, bioswales, permeable pavement and street trees can help improve air quality, decrease water pollution levels, mitigate urban heat island effect and provide wildlife habitat while providing social and economic benefits to their surrounding communities. Urban planning strategies which emphasize cutting energy consumption while using alternative energy sources and improving infrastructure efficiency also promote resilience within communities.
Numerous factors affecting resilience cannot be changed, such as genetics and early life experiences; however, specific coping skills such as breaking out of negative thought cycles and refusing to catastrophize can be learned and practiced to increase resilience in communities and avoid rising costs associated with unsustainable development and climate change impacts on long-term prosperity; hence the necessity for adopting sustainable urban development practices is of critical importance.
Mixed-Use Development
Mixed-use development as part of a sustainability strategy encourages people to live closer to amenities they need and reduce their carbon footprint, as well as foster vibrant communities by increasing opportunities for social connections and creating a sense of place.
Mix-use developments encompass retail shops, residential areas, office spaces and other commercial properties that serve multiple functions simultaneously. Often located within walking distance of public transportation stations and prioritizing pedestrian-friendly design.
Green infrastructure projects that incorporate vegetation such as trees or grass into these projects offer many advantages to residents by providing cooling, reducing greenhouse gases emissions, combatting urban heat issues and improving water quality by collecting stormwater runoff. Green infrastructure is one of the best strategies available to combat climate change while encouraging environmental sustainability within urban environments.