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Since the year 2000, more than half of mankind lives in cities, this is a fast-growing phenomenon where large cities are accumulating an ever-increasing population, often with uncontrolled growth. However, according to experts such as the town planner Herbert Girardet, winner of the United Nations "Global 500" prize, “large-scale urbanisation is essentially an unsustainable process”. 

Cities are real drains on natural resources with an “ecological footprint” that is very hard to counteract. According to Girardet, London, for example, requires an area that is 125 times bigger than itself (the equivalent of the size of England) in order to feed it, provide it with wooden products and reabsorb its CO2 production. 

As such, an unavoidable objective for the near future concerns building ecocities. They are characterised by being organised around promoting recycling, the use of renewable energy sources, extending green  and small-scale agricultural areas, as well as by an adequate and efficient public transport service and pedestrian areas and cycle lanes. 

Several examples around the world

Various countries around the world are starting to implement highly ambitious town planning projects in terms of their sustainable development and environmental protection objectives. 

The German city of Freiburg has been a good example of such a city for several decades. It has an extensive and efficient transport network, composed of both trains and trams (with passes for unlimited use), as well as a large number of cycle lanes all over the city. In Freiburg, 5% of the electricity consumed comes from renewable energy sources, due in part to the subsidies offered by the council for installing solar panels on buildings in the city, which are also connected to the public transport network so that it can use the surplus energy produced. 

An ecocity must conserve the planet’s “health”, but particularly that of its inhabitants. We must not forget that reducing air pollution as much as possible, and efficient waste management have a direct effect on citizens’ quality of life. Ciechanow is an ecocity in Poland which has been highly successful since it launched the "Ciechanow-city of Health" programme in 1994, obtaining recognition in the form of major awards from organisations such as UNICEF and the European Commission. Its objectives include improving the quality of the drinking water, air, soil protection and the city’s appearance. 

In the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the Masdar project seeks to go even further and plans to invest 15,000 million dollars in a city designed by the architect Norman Foster in which every single detail, from the air conditioning systems to the street layout, will be aimed at achieving the greatest energy efficiency. 

Finally, in China, the city of Dongtan, on the outskirts of Shanghai, is a project that is being completed and which will accommodate half a million people. It is to be powered exclusively by renewable energy, the buildings will never be more than eight storeys high so as to reduce their energy consumption, 80% of waste will be recycled and the drinking water will be used twice: first for human consumption and then for cleaning and watering agricultural areas.

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