What is your daily routine? I wake up, brush my teeth, get dressed, and drive to school; which is about 30 minutes away from my house - every Monday through Friday. This may not seem like much of an impact on one person's ecological footprint but when you add in the fact that millions of Americans do this every day in one city, the impact on the environment is quite noticeable. Air pollution, wasteful use of water, lack of vegetation, and other things negatively impact the environment - most of the impact comes from major cities such as Singapore and Manila. Is it possible to turn these major cities into more ecological sustaining ones?

Let's take a look at Curitiba, Brazil. The city houses 3,770,919 people, currently, but also manages to live sustainably; how is this possible? Well, for starters, the city has a mass transit, or bus, system that between 70 - 80% of the population uses - which result in a 25% lower carbon emission per capita than the average for Brasilian cities.

Brazil is infamous for having unplanned slums inhabited by disenfranchised members of society: favelas; but Curitiba found an extremely successful way of giving work for these members of society without having to build new buildings or tearing down nature. Curitiba has a program that encourages the populace to clean the city by exchanging trash and recyclables for bus tokens, food, and cash. As a result, the city is very clean and not dependent on the government to create support for menial labor.

The city is also designed around the people, not politics or vehicles. This means that the way buildings are structured is so that they benefit and promote an ecological lifestyle. One way this is shown is that housing buildings have retail, or grocery stores, on the first two levels so that the people living there have a place to go shopping without leaving the building.

Major cities impact the environment greatly but suburban areas are also making ecological dents. Many Americans live in single-family homes, use water and electricity, and drive to and from places. As a result, a single family can have a major impact on the environment just by their style of living.

One of the world's most successful models for sustainable urban development is in the Vauban district of Freiburg in southern Germany. Along with an energy-efficient tramway that the population uses, they have banned the use of vehicles within the city. This encourages citizens to either walk, bicycle or use the tramway which not only decreases carbon emissions but also keeps roads safe for children and other pedestrians on the street.

Can these sustainable practices be implemented worldwide? The short answer: yes, these practices can be implemented in every city but problems present themselves. One of these problems is funding. Freiburg was funded by a private company. The U.S. government uses our tax dollars to pay city workers and fund programs such as medicare; getting them to pay for a rework of our current sewage system would take much convincing. The U.S. also has a strong opposition towards the removal of motor vehicles because they play a huge role in our daily lives.

Bibliography

Barth, Brian. “Curitiba: The Greenest City on Earth.” The Ecologist, The Resurgence Trust, 17 Nov. 2017, https://theecologist.org/2014/mar/15/curitiba-greenest-city-earth#:~:text=A%20pastoral%20city,greenest'%20city%20in%20the%20world.

Thorpe, David. “The World's Most Successful Model for Sustainable Urban Development?” Smart Cities Dive, Industry Dive, 2022, https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sust … nt/229316/.