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The first thing to consider in how sustainable a city can be is its physical layout.

Population density and Green Manhattan

The article Green Manhattan argues that densely packed city dwellers have a smaller footprint than those in leafier, more natural looking settings. Population density actually facilitates sustainable design in housing and transport. With their apartments backing against each other (great insulation), nowhere to park a car (trains, buses and feet can work well in a dense city) and using elevators as a regular form of transport, their daily energy use is greatly reduced.

Green urban design

Certain movements in urban design, or urban planning, recognize the role of density, and value of development nodes around transport hubs. In particular, transit-oriented development (or the very similar concepts of New Urbanism a.k.a. Traditional Neighborhood Design) turn many standard practices of car-centered urban planning on their head.

Transport

While the individual chooses what mode of transport to use, the design of the city and the policies of the government have a huge impact on how commuters choose to travel.

Public transport, cycling and usage is enhanced by:

  • Walkable environments (density, to reduce distance, and pleasant leafy streets with an even line of building fronts near the street). A good coverage of public transport stops helps.
  • Adequate investment - recognizing the many benefits to the community, in air quality, health, reduced congestion, and reduced stress levels.
  • Efficient entry, exit and transfers. Poorly designed systems lead to delays and fiddling with tickets, which is tiring for commuters.

Municipal water and sanitation

Porous pavement

Larger scale and community measures on water include:

Green city government

Some city governments have developed a name for their green policies. For example:

  • Portland, Oregon, which makes green house designs available to their residents (and encourages their use through cheaper, expedited approval.
  • Cities which ban the burning of rubbish (which has already been done in most Western cities[verification needed]) have cleaner air.

In general the adoption of policies to create incentives for sustainable behavior is an effective way to create a sustainable city.

Green coated grey policies

Policies restricting density, especially where based on arbitrary measures of floor space to land area, do not encourage good design, and on the contrary encourage waste of space, through roads and landscaping (arguably decorative but not usable). Resisting change

Ecocities

Attempts to build sustainable cities from the ground up, i.e. Ecocities, have been made, for example Bahía de Caráquez.

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