Ecopolis

Climate change, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation demand a paradigm shift in urban development. Currently, too many of our cities exacerbate these problems: they pollute, consume, and process resources in ways that negatively impact our natural world. Cities of the future must make nature their model, instituting circular metabolic processes that mimic, embrace, and enhance nature. In other words, a city must be a regenerative city or, as some say, an “ecopolis.” So, how to get there—to ecopolis—from here? In this Comment, I propose a partial answer by focusing on certain legal frameworks that must be reenvisioned to enable the ecopolis. Part II defines the ecopolis, drawing on accounts from leading thinkers. It then differentiates between regenerativity and the better-known concept of sustainability. That part also identifies the many facets of regenerativity, including food production, brownfield revitalization, integration with nature, waste management, water use, transportation, building considerations, and energy. Part III then focuses on one of those facets: energy. The ecopolis must not only use less energy than our cities do today, it also must produce energy in a way that positively contributes to its surroundings. This means taking advantage of new generating technologies that harness renewable resources, such as biomass, sun, and wind, and that cleanly convert trash to energy. In addition, it means embracing distributed generation, located near the end-user it is intended to serve. Distributed generation, whether for individual end-users or for community energy projects, is an essential element of energy in the ecopolis.

The current state of the world is at a crucial turning point; technological advancements have made the development of efficient systems of city planning possible. However, our reliance on unsustainable systems such as the design of cities for cars rather than people can potentially lead humanity down a path leading to the devastation of the natural world. There is a need for architects, designers, planners and governments to re-evaluate commonly accepted design practices in favour of a more ecologically sustainable system of city  planning and design. The writings of environmental planners, historians and authors such as Richard Register, Ken Yeang and Steven Nelson can be used to inform design choices in the construction of new cities. Dubbed "ecocities" by Register, these new urban developments represent the next stage in human evolutionary advancement and seek to reduce the effects of climate change and the collapse of ecological systems without compromising the current standard of living. However, sustainable building is not necessarily integrated into the  parameters of any given development; ecocities are expensive and more difficult to plan out than conventional cities, simply because we have fallen complacent with current practices and therefore have honed an already outdated method of design. Therefore, it is initially ambiguous as to whether or not it is possible to reach a global standard of ecologically sustainable city planning. Through examining examples of sustainable communities and cities in past, present and future, we can gain a clearer understanding of what the future holds for the ecocity.

The purpose of this research paper is to explore the development of the sustainable city throughout history, the  present, and the implications that these have for the future. Firstly Register's "ecocity" is defined in light of the writing of other theorists such as Ken Yeang and Mark Roseland. The analysis of a historical eco-community, the Mousgoum people in Cameroon, reveals that such design principles have already been employed and thus  provides insight into how we may adapt these in a contemporary context. The city of Curitiba in Brazil is briefly visited as a paradigm for a successful ecocity, contrasting with Arup‟s failed Dongtan Ecocity in China. The development of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city is analysed as an example for a contemporary ecocity still under development. Finally, the paper will draw conclusions from all the research conducted as to the position of sustainable cities in the present and future, and if a global shift to sustainable design at such a scale may ever  be possible.

Climate change, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation demand a paradigm shift in urban development. Currently, too many of our cities exacerbate these problems: they pollute, consume, and process resources in ways that negatively impact our natural world. Cities of the future must make nature their model, instituting circular metabolic processes that mimic, embrace, and enhance nature. In other words, a city must be a regenerative city or, as some say, an “ecopolis.” So, how to get there — to ecopolis — from here? In this Comment, I propose a partial answer by focusing on certain legal frameworks that must be reenvisioned to enable the ecopolis. Part II defines the ecopolis, drawing on accounts from leading thinkers. It then differentiates between regenerativity and the better-known concept of sustainability. That part also identifies the many facets of regenerativity, including food production, brownfield revitalization, integration with nature, waste management, water u...