Abstract
A sustainable city combines stable long-term economic growth with a resilient ecological system. It is also a region of social sustainability with low levels of spatial segregation of different socio-economic groups. Spatial inclusion primarily involves provision of equalized city-wide access to territorial public goods. High durability of physical networks and buildings facilitates economic, environmental and social sustainability. This study shows that durability varies considerably between Asian, European and North American cities, with mean life expectancies of buildings that range from below 20 years in Chinese cities to over 100 years in European cities such as Paris. Urban planning principles that focus on the slow and steady expansion of accessibility and density within a durable built environment are consistent with general economic equilibria, while avoiding the pitfalls of political planning of the markets for private goods.
Highlights
The general character of the built environment that makes up a city is a territorial public good
This study shows that durability varies considerably between Asian, European and North American cities, with mean life expectancies of buildings that range from below 20 years in Chinese cities to over 100 years in European cities such as Paris
In this article we propose three principles that cultivate economic, social and environmental sustainability in the very long run: 1. The sustainability of a city derives from the durability of its past and present built environment
Summary
The general character of the built environment that makes up a city is a territorial public good. It is the downtown area that tends to exhibit the strongest publicness characteristics. This is because downtowns usually host the most impressive buildings. A downtown exhibits the strongest publicness characteristics for two reasons It is the area with the best general citywide accessibility to all territorial goods, including territorial public goods. Residential neighborhoods tend to have a greater proportion of territorial private goods and few people go there with the primary purpose of consuming their public goods. A third aspect of sustainability, which is more often focused on in Scandinavia than elsewhere, is the durability of buildings and other physical capital. The importance of this aspect is evident in the most common definition of sustainability in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, which is “durable” or “long-lasting.”
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