At the Urban Frontier of Environmental Change

For architecture professor Timothy Beatley, the phrase urban environment is not an oxymoron. Rather, he sees cities as a lever for environmental change. It is true that cities typically consume outsized quantities of fossil fuels and generate enormous quantities of waste and pollution. But the sheer population density that characterizes most cities also means that land is used efficiently, that automobiles are not the primary mode of transportation and that per-capita consumption of resources is low. Because of the growing number of people who call cities home, Beatley believes we can go a long way to ensuring a healthy planet by reconfiguring everyday life in our cities to become sustainable.

Beatley, the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities, is a proponent of green urbanism. “Cities are popularly viewed as destructive of nature, gray and natureless, and distinct and separate from natural systems,” he says. “Green urbanism rejects these historical perceptions and argues that cities can be environmentally beneficial and restorative, can be full of nature, and are inherently embedded in complex natural systems.”

Beatley has a definite vision of what an ecological city might look like. It would be characterized by what is termed circular metabolism, where waste becomes a productive input for products which are then consumed. It would be compact and walkable with parks and greenspaces. And it would emphasize sustainable forms of mobility like public transportation and bicycles.

As part of a recent survey of 30 cities in 12 European countries, Beatley discovered that these ideas are beginning to be put into practice in cities around the world. In Helsinki and Vienna, hot water from power plants is piped into district heating networks, warming homes and offices. The result is a more efficient use of fuel and reduced emission of greenhouse gases. In Delft, public buildings are constructed with solar hot water and heat recovery systems, as well as electric lighting that adjusts automatically to changes in natural illumination. “Cities are not black holes, but places where there are many opportunities to generate your own energy,” he asserts.

The key to the transformation of cities is leadership. Beatley points to Chicago as an example of a city whose leadership has made sustainability a priority. In his latest book, Native to Nowhere: Sustaining Home and Community in a Global Age, Beatley notes that Mayor Richard Daley made a point of advocating sustainability because he believes it leads to significant improvements in quality of life and economic development. Mayor Daley landscaped the roof of City Hall, realizing substantial energy savings while creating a small natural area. Through his example, Daley set off a boom in green roof construction in the city that now includes more than one hundred such structures. Daley has also required that all new schools are LEED-certified, requiring them to conform to state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

Beatley’s next project is to catalog successful efforts in Australia to create more sustainable urban areas. “Each of these books is part of an overall effort to overcome the perception that it requires great sacrifice to live in sustainable communities,” he says. “In fact, making communities green makes them more livable places.”