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Part I
Theoretical Framework
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Chapter 1
Background and Theoretical Interpretation of Urban Green Development
Zheng Zhao
Researcher, Development Research Center of the State Council of PRC [email protected] Cities are humanityâs greatest invention. Urbanization is a process through which humanity not only uses and changes the natural environment but also identifies with and adapts to its self-development support system. Whether in the past, at the present or in the future, the quality of urban development depends largely on the way we understand and build cities. The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development began amidst the conflicts between prosperity and poverty, progress and decline, and opportunity and challenge; and amidst the impacts of environmental destruction, economic recession, escalating poverty and social imbalances. The Agenda rethinks the relationships between man and nature, man and economy, and man and society; in turn, it redefines the goals, implications and patterns of urban development. Green development is the inevitable direction of urban development.
I.Green Development: Direction of Sustainable Development for 2030
Humanity never stops thinking about its self-development, especially since the mid-20th century after the arrival of industrial civilization. Industrial civilization is the state of civilization following the industrial revolution that is characterized by widespread use of powered machines and the commonly seen chimneys, wastewater and sprawling slums. Since the industrial revolution, various conflicts had been escalating and the issues facing the economy, resources, environment and society had become increasingly salient. This has provoked humanity into thinking seriously about its development pattern. The book Silent Spring written by Rachel Carson (an American biologist) and published in 1962 revealed the detrimental impacts of industrial development to the environment, calling for effective actions to reduce environmental pollution and disruption caused by industrialization. The report The Limits to Growth published by the Club of Rome in 1972 warned that population and industrial growth will become limited, since the earthâs resources are depleted and the ecological environment is disrupted. The report holds that the earthâs resources are finite and growth could not continue indefinitely. It also proposed the well-known âzero growthâ strategy. In the same year, the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm. At the conference, the slogan âOnly One Earthâ was proposed and the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (the first international environmental declaration) was adopted. This has not only impacted the conventional perception on relations between society and nature but also helped humanity identify with the sustainable development idea. In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development, headed by Mrs. Brundtland, published the report Our Common Future. The report formally used the concept of sustainable development and defined sustainable development as âdevelopment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needsâ. In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development adopted âAgenda 21â, which formed an action plan for sustainable development worldwide and received the highest level of political commitment. Since the conference, the concept of sustainable development has been put into practice. In 2000, the United Nations Millennium Summit adopted the Millennium Declaration and set the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which established indexes and schedules for achieving the development goals at global level for the first time ever. It marks a groundbreaking moment in the history of human development.
On 25 September 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit was held at UN Headquarters in New York. Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the summit maps out the blueprint for global development in the next 15 years (Table 1.1). The 2030 Agenda is a set of 17 âGlobal Goalsâ with 169 targets between them, which are clustered into five categories: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships. Ending poverty remains the primary goal of the agenda. The 2030 Agenda remains committed to improving health and education, promoting gender equality and combating climate change. In addition, it sets higher standards for protecting water resources, ensuring energy security, reducing inequality within and among countries and protecting marine resources, in an attempt to build consensus between the developed and developing countries. The agenda serves as a road map for ending poverty and allowing everyone to benefit from sustainable development.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a set of global goals and programs designed to end poverty, protect the earth and ensure prosperity for all, amidst the increasing global problems and challenges. Compared with the MDGs set in 2000, the 2030 Agenda reflects a new global understanding of sustainable development. The SDGs cover a wider scope of targets and fields than the MDGs. The SDGs not only involve the concept of intergenerational equity explored in sustainable development but also cover the ecological, economic, social and governance fields. They are designed for the following purposes: protecting the ecosystems and climate on which all lives rely; developing innovation-based, environmentally friendly economic systems; building peaceful, inclusive and well-governed societies; fundamentally changing the development outlook from traditional excessive pursuit of economic growth to a balanced development of the economy, society and the environment by strengthening multilateral cooperation through the revitalization of global partnerships. The SDGs also offer a clear action plan.
Table 1.1. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
| No. | Goals |
| 1 | End poverty in all its forms everywhere |
| 2 | End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture |
| 3 | Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages |
| 4 | Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all |
| 5 | Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls |
| 6 | Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all |
| 7 | Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all |
| 8 | Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth; full and productive employment; decent work for all |
| 9 | Build resilient infrastructure; promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization; foster innovation |
| 10 | Reduce inequality within and among countries |
| 11 | Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable |
| 12 | Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns |
| 13 | Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts |
| 14 | Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development |
| 15 | Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems; sustainably manage forests; combat desertification; halt and reverse land degradation; halt biodiversity loss |
| 16 | Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development; provide access to justice for all; build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels |
| 17 | Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development |
Source: United Nations Environment Programme.
The concept of green development is consistent with that of sustainable development, especially the concept of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In 1989, David Pearce, a British environmental economist, first used the term âgreen economyâ in his book Blueprint for a Green Economy. He treats the term âgreen economyâ as a synonym of sustainable development and has explored the ways to achieve sustainable development from the perspective of environmental economics. Amidst the increasingly severe international financial crisis, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a âGlobal Green New Dealâ in 2008. The new deal was designed to allow global leaders and policy makers of relevant departments to realize that a green economy is not a burden on economic growth but an engine of growth. The UNEP called on countries to develop green economies by transforming the pattern of economic growth, which has received positive responses from the international community. In 2009, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued the Declaration on Green Growth. In 2010, the EU introduced the Europe 2020 Strategy. These documents present green development as a core strategy for promoting regional and national competitiveness. The US, Japan and other developed countries have launched green development strategy plans in an attempt to get out of the financial crisis by transforming their previous development pattern to a green one driven by technology and innovation. Green development has become the trendy pattern of global development. It is widely believed that in the short term, promoting green development not only can boost employment and the economy but also can effectively adjust the economic structure and strike a balance between resources and economic growth; in the long term, it can serve to achieve coordinated, sustainable development in a large number of fields and prevent another round of international financial crisis.1 Generally, green development is a development pattern that is gradually emerging under the backdrop of sustainable development. Green development starts with the sustainable development of the economy, society, nature and the environment. It is highly consistent with the core value and philosophy upheld by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Both green and sustainable development patterns pursue a balance between economic, ecological and social benefits. Moreover, emphasizing fairness, sustainability and development, both patterns aim to transform development patterns and enhance human well-being. Like sustainable development, green development is also the result of humanityâs self-examination of traditional civilization, especially industrial civilization. It represents a great progress in the development philosophy and the form of human civilization. Moreover, it serves not only as a way to reduce and prevent environmental pollution and ecological disruption so as to achieve sustainable development of the economy and society but also as a new option that humanity has chosen to improve its ways of living, production and development.
Although the concepts of both sustainable and green development are interlinked, their implications are different primarily in the following three aspects:
1.Green development focuses more on development than resource conservation and environmental protection. Based on the philosophy of achieving economic and social development not at the expense of natural resources and environment, green development seeks a balance between environmental protection and development and highlights âsustainable developmentâ.
2.Green development emphasizes actions rather than concepts. Green development focuses more on the ways of solving âunsustainabilityâ and the approaches to achieving fair development. It serves as a feasible support and guarantees for achieving the balance between economic and social development and environmental protection.
3.Green development focuses more on overall coordination than local improvement. Green development is a process in which governments, enterprises and the public participate to achieve economic and social development yet not at the expense of the environment. In this process, the ecological environment should be improved. Moreover, natural resources and environment should not be treated as external factors but as an integrated part of the social and economic value. Factoring in the interests of all stakeholders, green development is an overall coordinated development pattern.
The key to green development lies in development. Green development is an effect...
