46th ISTE Annual National Convention & National Conference 2017International Journal of Advance Research and Innovation (ISSN 2347 – 3258)

Clean Cities and Green Cities : A Big ChallengeAshu Dehadani1, Khushal Matai3

1Project Officer, Faculty, 2Sustainable Architecture 1GRIHA, The Energy & Resource Institute, Delhi

2NIMS University, Jaipur

ABSTRACT— Today cities cover 2 % of land area and contain 50 % population of the world. They consume 70 % of all resources of the globe and have a very high ecological footprint. Global temperature has increased by 1.4 degree F since 1880. Arctic ice is decreasing by 13.4% per decade. Sea level is rising 3.4 mm per year. Urban areas are around 2-3 degrees hotter than their surroundings due to the heat island effect.

Land, water, air and forest resources are degraded and polluted to dangerous levels. Our national capital Delhi had set world record of the most polluted city. 13 Indian cities are among top 20 cities of the world having the highest level of PM 2.5 ! All this shows that in the rat race to become western, the situation is made so bleak that urgent measures are required to control the worsening situation of climate change.

Therefore, it is essential to make our cities clean & green to reduce the highly dangerous ecological footprint. Green city involves 3 aspects – development of the city, environmental concern and economical and social aspects. Govt. and citizens together should strive to make a perfect balance between them.

Agree that the money is your own but the resources are of societies, therefore, don’t misuse them, don’t waste them to ensure the safe future of the coming future generations. For no more Kawaas (the submerged desert village in Barmer, Rajasthan due to heavy rain!), Kedarnath, Kashmir, Chennai, Paris, London-like disasters, we all need to make our life-styles environment-friendly! To save the Mother Earth from Disasters of Climate Change, we have to urgently make our city livable, clean city and green city. Let us make Swachchha Bharat Mission a great success.

To achieve the goal of clean city and green city we need to make our cities smart - a city designed, built and managed in a manner where all its citizens are able to meet their own needs without endangering the well-being of the natural world & the living conditions of other people, now & in the future. The concept of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle need to be followed seriously in the cities and everywhere.

KEYWORDS— climate change, ecological footprint, heat island effect, Swachchha Bharat Abhiyaan, smart city, surgical strike against pollution, Garbage, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, renewable energy, Western Ghat.

I. INTRODUCTION

On this only known living planet, cities cover 2 % of land area and contain 50 % population of the world. They consume 70 % of all the resources of the globe and have a very high ecological footprint. Global temperature has increased by 1.4 degree F since 1880. Arctic ice is decreasing by 13.4% per decade. Sea level is rising 3.4 mm per year. Urban areas are around 2-3 degrees hotter than their surroundings due to the

heat island effect.

II. THE PROBLEM :

2nd most populous country in the world, India is rapidly urbanizing. India’s metropolitan cities are bursting at seams with ever increasing migration. According to a survey by UN state of the world population report 2007, by 2030, 40.76% of country's population is expected to reside in urban areas. This will further increase the degradation and pollution of our land, water, air and forest resources to more dangerous levels.

The amount of garbage filling the city streets is beyond tolerable limits. See the state of streets of our national capital! Our national capital Delhi had set world record of the most polluted city in the world. Among the top 20 cities of the world, 13 Indian cities are having the highest level of PM 2.5 pollution!

Unfortunately, as a result of highly stressed environmental conditions, most of our towns and cities are unable to cope

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Gulzar Group of Institutes, Ludhiana, Punjab-141401 (INDIA)

46th ISTE Annual National Convention & National Conference 2017International Journal of Advance Research and Innovation (ISSN 2347 – 3258)

with the rapid pace of urbanization. In year 1994, many people died because of the epidemic disease plague in Surat (Gujarat). Then the government found that the main cause of this disease was the garbage problem of Surat. Garbage generation is one of the most critical problems in metropolitan cities. All Indian cities produce more than 50,000 tons of garbage per month. Our commercial capital Mumbai produces 4,400 tons garbage and Kolkata produces 4,000 tons garbage daily.

All this shows that in the rat race to become western, the situation is made so bleak that urgent measures are required to

control the worsening situation of climate change.

Therefore, it is essential to make our cities clean & green to reduce the highly dangerous ecological footprint.

III. THE SOLUTION

A lot is being done to make the development, infrastructure etc. sustainable. The smart cities initiative is one such example. Campaigns such as Swachchha Bharat Abhiyaan also resonate on similar lines. On the other hand, the green rating systems have been adopting the bottom up approach by making buildings sustainable. So in all hands on deck situation, solutions are being developed and implemented on micro as well as macro level.

Green city involves 3 aspects – development of the city, environmental concern and economical and social aspects. Govt. and citizens together should strive to make a perfect balance between them. Thus, we all need to make a surgical strike against pollution.

Agree that the money is your own but the resources are of the societies, therefore, don’t misuse them, don’t waste them to ensure the safe future of the coming generations. For no more Kawaas (the submerged desert village in Barmer, Rajasthan due to intense, heavy rain!), Kedarnath, Kashmir, Chennai, Paris, London-like disasters, we all need to make our life-styles environment-friendly, as per Indian culture! To save the Mother Earth from Disasters of Climate Change, we have to urgently make our city livable, clean and green city. Let us make Swachchha Bharat Mission a great success.

Clean city covers every initiative including solar energy, plastic ban, cycle tracks, conservation of forests and animals/birds, etc. It is very difficult to make cities completely sustainable due to the high density population with a high demand for energy and high quality of life. One should be alarmed at the increasing numbers of factories, vehicles polluting the environment and improper waste disposal.

So it is high time that each one of us should take necessary steps in making the  city clean  and  green. When every individual contributes what he/she can towards the environment, there will be wonders happening. Remember, less talk, more action will bring wonderful results!

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Gulzar Group of Institutes, Ludhiana, Punjab-141401 (INDIA)

46th ISTE Annual National Convention & National Conference 2017International Journal of Advance Research and Innovation (ISSN 2347 – 3258)

To achieve the goal of clean city and green city we need to make our cities smart - a city designed, built and managed in a manner where all its citizens are able to meet their own needs without endangering the well-being of the natural world & the living conditions of other people, now & in the future. The concept of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle need to be followed urgently and seriously in the cities and everywhere.

Garbage problem is very big headache in India and elsewhere. We can keep our city clean only if the people and administration of our city think clean and act clean. With public cooperation, sensitive, strong city administration with strong will power can achieve anything. Singapore is well recognized as the world’s greenest city. A sustainable city needs to use renewable energy technologies for its power supply facilities. Such technologies should be convenient to use, easy to run and maintain.

Although cities make great contribution to economic  development globally, more and more scholars and urban planners realize its role as a cause of resource depletion and environment degradation extensively acknowledged demand to discover one more sustainable urban development model :

the idea of “compact city” in the era of reducing land. So we need to design our city as compact, smart, eco-city to achieve the goals of ecological sustainability, economic sustainability and social sustainability.

A smart city uses resources efficiently and provides solutions sustainably. It provides solutions that are cost effective, which reduce our dangerous carbon footprint. These solutions include the implementation of green buildings, electric solar, gas powered vehicles and the use of other alternate renewable energy sources. Smart cities are based on integrated systems that integrate to form an efficient and productive economy. A smart city is a city that is developed to reduce negative environmental impact.

Plant Trees ! Save Mother Earth !!

Save Water ! Save Our Children !!India is trying to achieve the above goal. The August 2015 ranking by Swachchh Bharat Abhiyaan announced  Mysore  as the number one cleanest city by scoring the highest 18.50 out of 20 points in minimizing open defecation. Followed by Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu)  which scored 14.25 points out of 20.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the least polluted 5 cities in India, ranked based on air quality are  Pathanamthitta (District in South Kerala),  Mangalore (Karnataka),  Wayanad (Kerala),  Hassan (Karnataka)  and  Palakkad (Kerala) : all 5 in Western Ghat area. The ranking of cities as per the PM10 content in the air is : Mysore, Chandigarh, Tiruchirapalli, NDMC Delhi, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Rajkot, Gangtok, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Greater Mumbai, Pune, Navi Mumbai, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Imphal.

IV. CONCLUSION

we all need to make our life-styles environment-friendly, as per Indian culture! To save the Mother Earth from Disasters of Climate Change, we have to urgently make our city livable, clean and green city. We have to make the Swachchh Bharat Abhiyaan a great success by becoming more responsible citizens. The concept of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle need to be followed urgently and seriously in the cities and everywhere. Each engineering institution right from ITI to IIT level will have to contribute in the national missions on climate change with their action, research and mass awareness support. Our action research reveal that a strong, sensitive city

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Gulzar Group of Institutes, Ludhiana, Punjab-141401 (INDIA)

46th ISTE Annual National Convention & National Conference 2017International Journal of Advance Research and Innovation (ISSN 2347 – 3258)

administration with strong will power, coupled with full public cooperation, can achieve anything.

REFERENCES

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2. "CPCB-NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY MONITORING NAAQMS 2014-2015" (PDF).

3. Prof. Ankur Singh, “ 4 G (Ganeshji, Ganga, Gaaya- mother cow and Gauri), for Sustainable Development”.

4.  "TERI (India) 2015- Air Pollution and Health".5. "Govt. to measure success of Swachh Bharat Mission, rank 75

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8.  Datta, Pranati. "Urbanisation in India" (PDF). Infostat.sk. Retrieved 13 June 2012.

9. Acharya (Smt.) Suresh Dehadani and Er. Daria Singh, “Sustainable Water Management” .

10.  Amitabh Kundu. Trends and processes of urbanization in India. IIED. p. 1. GGKEY: NNAEQJ0WFTW.

11. Prof. Ankur Singh, “ Appropriate, Clean Technology : For Better Environment”.

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13.  Niu, Tong (18 January 2011). "Problems of Urbanisation in India". YouthKiAwaaz.

14. Er. Daria Singh, “Comparative Study of Various Evapo Transpiration Methods : A case study with special reference to Jodhpur Region”.

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