Smart Growth : a sustainable solution for our cities

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The greatest challenge for our time is to ensure the preservation of our environment and the wellbeing of our people. With this in mind and the fact that almost half of the world's population isliving in urban areas, it is of the utmost importance to ensure that cities develop in a sustainablemanner. Cities are regarded as one of the most magnificent creations of human achievements, butwhen looking at urban areas around the world it can also be regarded as one of the most problematicachievements. The growth of cities is a natural process and an unstoppable progression of events.Modern cities have a major impact on the environment and to ensure successful reduction of thisimpact, certain problem areas will have to be identified and addressed without delay in order to bein a position to make any significant change in the long run. Interventions of some sort are neededto make living in cities as well as on the planet as a whole more sustainable. The big question ishowever, how this can be achieved? One of the possible new interventions is the Smart GrowthConcept, which is a form of growth management. Although Smart Growth has been around fromthe early 70's, it is still a new concept that has not been explored to its full potential. The concept iswell known in America but in most countries around the world, including South Africa, it is still avague concept, which needs more introductions, convincing and ultimately, implementation.Although this article will focus on the Smart Growth concept as a possible solution to creatingsustainable cities, the critics do not all agree with this point of view. Enough evidence is howeverprovided to prove that Smart Growth can make a difference in our daily lives. The main aim of thisarticle is to provide the reader with enough information on the subject of Smart Growth, andaddress the criticism against the concept of Smart Growth, to be able to see the positive influencethat the Smart Growth concept can have on our cities.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University