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At the start of the 21st century, the cities in which we
live must enable people to live in harmony with nature and achieve sustainable
development. An ecocity is an ecologically healthy city. The participants
of the Fifth International EcoCity Conference at Shenzhen*
in China urge that integrated, holistic ecological perspectives and principles
be applied to city planning and management.
People oriented, ecocity development requires the comprehensive
understanding of complex interactions between environmental, economic,
political and socio-cultural factors based on ecological principles. Cities,
towns and villages should be ecologically designed to enhance the health
and quality of life of their inhabitants and maintain the ecosystems on
which they depend. This requires careful ecological planning and management
and participation of citizen and stakeholder groups into planning and
management processes.
Ecocity development is a whole systems approach integrating
administration, ecologically efficient industry, people's needs and aspirations,
harmonious culture, and landscapes where nature, agriculture and the built
environment are functionally integrated.
- Ecological security - clean air, and safe, reliable water
supplies, food, healthy housing and workplaces, municipal services and
protection against disasters for all people.
- Ecological sanitation - efficient, cost-effective eco-engineering
for
treating and recycling human excreta , gray water, and all wastes.
- Ecological industrial metabolism - resource conservation and
environmental
protection through industrial transition, emphasizing materials re-use,
life-cycle production, renewable energy, efficient transportation, and
meeting human needs.
- Ecoscape (ecological-landscape) integrity - arrange built structures,
open
spaces such as parks and plazas, connectors such as streets and bridges,
and
natural features such as waterways and ridgelines, to maximize accessibility
of the city for all citizens while conserving energy and resources and
alleviating such problems as automobile accidents, air pollution,
hydrological deterioration, heat island effects and global warming.
- Ecological awareness - help people understand their place in
nature,
cultural identity, responsibility for the environment, and help them
change
their consumption behavior and enhance their ability to contribute to
maintaining high quality urban ecosystems.
- Provide safe shelter, water, sanitation, security of tenure and
food security for all citizens and with priority to the urban poor
in an ecologically sound manner to improve the quality of lives and
human health.
- Build cities for people, not cars. Roll back sprawl development.
Minimize
the loss of rural land by all effective measures, including regional
urban
and peri-urban ecological planning.
- Identify ecologically sensitive areas, define the carrying
capacity of regional life-support systems, and identify areas where
nature, agriculture and the built environment should be restored.
- Design cities for energy conservation, renewable energy uses and
the reduction, re-use and recycling of materials.
- Build cities for safe pedestrian and non-motorized transport use
with efficient, convenient and low-cost public transportation. End automobile
subsidies, increase taxation on vehicle fuels and cars and spend the
revenue on ecocity projects and public transportation.
- Provide strong economic incentives to businesses for ecocity building
and rebuilding. Tax activities that work against ecologically healthy
development, including those that produce greenhouse gases and other
emissions. Develop and enhance government policies that encourage investment
in ecocity building.
- Provide adequate, accessible education and training programs, capacity
building and local skills development to increase community participation
and awareness of ecocity design and management and on the restoration
of the natural environment. Support community initiatives in ecocity
building.
- Create a government agency at each level - city, regional and national
- to craft and execute policy to build the ecocity. The agency will
coordinate and monitor functions such as transportation, energy, water
and land use in holistic planning and management, and facilitate projects
and plans.
- Encourage and initiate international, inter-city and community-to-community
cooperation to share experiences, lessons and resources in ecocity
development and promote ecocity practice in developing and developed
countries.
* Shenzhen city has won the
Awards of 2000 International Garden City and the UNEP's Global 500 in
2002.
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