Sustainable City Proceedings International Seminar The Knowledge City: Spirit, Character, and Manifestation
and Manifestation, Medan, 13
th
- 14
th
November 2007
299 defined as a city where achievements include social, economic
and physical development are made to last and has a lasting supply of the natural resources on which its development
depends, lasting security from environmental hazards which may threaten development achievement. While in Sweden sustainable
city is defined as “one that puts in place action plans and policies that aim to ensure adequate resource availability and re-
utilization, social comfort and equity and economic development and prosperity for future generations
5
. From those various definitions, it can be concluded that
all of the concepts focus on three key-points of sustainable development such as economic needs, social needs and
environmental needs for the recent generation without any burden for the future generations’ needs. Hence, one may approach the
concept of sustainable city based on its characteristics as listed below:
Sustainable city tries to minimize urban sprawl, material and energy input comes from renewable and
recyclable sources e.g. agriculture, waste, renewable energy resources,
material output is kept to a minimal level solid waste, sewage, and air pollution,
Extensive recycling, Minimize city’s ecological footprint i.e. the landnatural
resources necessary to supply the city with raw materialsenergy and to ensure its implementation,
Holistic system development in policy development and decision making,
Integration of advanced environmental principles into decision making and preparation e.g. reduce, reuse,
recycle, polluter pays principle, internalization of external costs, eco-efficiency in industrial production, from cradle
to grave approach lifecycle analysis, environmental impact assessment, public participation in decision
making, etc.,
Democratic society Cooperation of different stakeholders in solving problems
may include
businesses, municipalnational
governments, NGOs, universitiesresearch institutesthink thanks, etc. The Regional Environmental Center for
Central and Eastern Europe.