Building Sustainable Cities

People and families are the main nucleus of society and their optimal functioning ensures that cities, countries, and finally the world move towards social, environmental, economic, and cultural growth. Consequently, governments need to plan and manage bearing in mind the well-being of families and individuals. But we are far from achieving sustainability, and examining what is happening in the world in relation to the lives of individuals can be instructive.

People and societies face important sustainability challenges, which are expected to become more significant in the future. Making societies and their development more sustainable requires consideration of economic, social, and environmental factors among others. Assessment tools are needed to evaluate sustainability and how it is affected by modifications. To account for all relevant factors, a comprehensive set of indicators is required, including practical quantitative indicators and qualitative indicators where necessary. In this chapter, sustainability definitions are reviewed and the historical context for sustainability is briefly described. Then sustainability is discussed, focusing on its economic, environmental, and social dimensions, and the related concept of sustainable development is examined. Finally, assessment measures for sustainability are examined, and several applications are presented.

Energy sustainability is an important component of sustainability, especially for urban regions due to their relatively large energy use. The importance of energy sustainability is due to the notable environmental impacts of energy processes and the importance of energy in economic development, lifestyles, and living standards, in combination with the pervasiveness of energy use. Many factors need to be addressed appropriately for energy sustainability, including appropriate energy sources, energy carriers, efficiency enhancement, holistic environmental stewardship, and satisfying various other sustainability factors like economics, equity, land use, lifestyle, socio-political actions, and population. In this chapter, energy sustainability definitions are reviewed and the requirements of energy sustainability are discussed, focusing on its technical, environmental, economic, social, and other dimensions. Then energy sustainability is examined, along with means for enhancing it, and energy sustainability evaluation is discussed. An illustrative urban energy system is presented.

When cities are presented as centers of human interaction, it is necessary to know the evolution that cities have had since their formation, how they are currently formed and how their transformation has been taking place since the arrival of the world interconnected with the Internet. It is necessary to emphasize how valuable cities have been from their history and culture to their potential to host families and to provide everything necessary for their harmonious development. Knowing the cities, you can have more clarity to understand the urgent need to build sustainable cities, those same cities whose families hope to have a healthy and safe environment.

When discussing sustainable cities, we imagine cities that achieve sustainable economic development, that provide the basis for the social development of citizens, and that are harmonized with and care for the environment. In line with progress to make cities sustainable, various national and supranational initiatives are being developed, leading to agreements to cooperate and work together to create and maintain sustainable cities. One also hears of smart cities, eco-cities, and green cities and reports about them and their particularities, but these types of cities are in many ways subsets of sustainable cities given the broader criteria implied by sustainability. In this chapter, sustainable cities and the various aspects that they comprise are described, and some of the most relevant initiatives carried out by governments and municipalities to promote and foster their development are discussed.

Labor and organizational tasks that today are typified as informal were not always so; in fact, work and organization are intrinsic to the development of human societies. Talking about informality does not have to have a pejorative character since history shows that there is an evolution of productive activities and that at the same time, depending on the context and resources, they are the only possible activities to be carried out for the survival of individuals.

Providing health to the population has different dimensions. One may think that giving access to medical consultation is sufficient and it is even thought that ensuring that patients receive the prescribed medication after the medical appointment is sufficient. The lack of optimal results with the use of medications has been evidenced for at least 40 years; in other words, the therapeutic goals are not being met in a large percentage of patients, so it is necessary to measure the level of understanding of patients in health matters and at the same time, it is urgent to implement pharmaceutical services in the health system of many so that they can contribute to achieving therapeutic goals, especially those with chronic diseases. The evidence in several countries provides academic, clinical, and financial support for its immediate implementation.

As more and more people make cities their home, the issue of social sustainability in these cities is being brought to the fore. Although a key component of sustainability, social aspects are rarely addressed in a quantitative manner, leading to an evaluation of sustainability which is not comprehensive. This chapter outlines the concept of social equity, both singularly, and as an important part of sustainability evaluation. Linking these evaluations and the concept of stakeholder engagement in the energy policy making process, social equity and sustainability are prioritized in terms of engendering robust, socially sustainable policy making. By linking an academic, quantitative approach of social equity and policy making in an inclusive process, policy making becomes more effective and fair, particularly for those sectors of society which are not typically represented in the traditional policy making process.

Food insecurity is a global problem and has different causes and effects. Usually it is thought that it is exclusively related to poverty as the main cause but other aspects such as violence against women are also reported in the literature; likewise, food insecurity directly impacts the worsening of diseases such as HIV or cancer. A comprehensive approach is necessary to ensure the food security of the population, through multidisciplinary strategies and with approaches based on research results.

Sustainable cities pose challenges that go beyond the environmental dimension. By definition, a sustainable city is “a safe, healthy, attractive, orderly city, with respect to the environment and its historical and cultural heritage, governable, competitive, efficient in its operation and development, so that its inhabitants can live in a comfortable environment, promoting increased productivity, and that can be bequeathed to future generations”. In this regard, safety, health, respect for historical and cultural heritage, comfortable habitat, productivity, and intergenerational legacy are elements that transcend the environmental.

The relationship between urban design and citizen health will be developed, with emphasis on the basic element of urban structure, the street. The street is the urban space of greater use; it is the first urban space of contact between people and their city. That daily contact necessarily influences the life, just as homes or offices do.

Transportation is an important aspect of cities, but it is also a significant user of energy and source of pollution in cities. Sustainable transportation necessitates the existence of effective, clean, efficient, and socially acceptable transportation. The desire for sustainable transportation obliges managers and stakeholders to address the factors listed above, including planning initiatives to optimize the entire transportation process and its energy use. Achieving sustainable transportation also requires the progressive implementation of intermodal connections that allows the population to make use and be part of a single transport circuit, which can be efficient in terms of time and transportation data traceability. The most relevant indicators for sustainable transportation in cities need to be identified and monitored to ensure that the correct levels of control are being achieved where necessary, such as to limit air pollution levels. The development of new strategies to achieve sustainable transportation is a highly significant objective in most cities, especially since transportation-related problems in cities are only expected to become more prominent in the future as populations grow.

As part of the efforts to materially build a sustainable city is the sustainability of urban infrastructure approach, which seeks to guarantee built physical spaces thinking of ensuring a harmonious life, mainly considering what the damage that climate change can cause to buildings can be and use technologies that allow to resist corrosion, humidity, and the various damages in the constructions, both in homes and in offices, schools, and mass call centers in the cities. When analyzing the literature, research trends focused on new strategies are shown.

The sustainability of urban energy generates a very big challenge for the countries, since it is necessary to ensure that the energy remains available for the activities of each city and at the same time it is necessary to invest in obtaining sustainable energy resources and the construction of the infrastructure corresponding for the use of this sustainable energy.

Success waste management must use more than only the disposal of household waste due to both construction and demolition tasks increase and also the building of new homes and buildings entails large increases in the generation of construction waste, more in big cities. On the other hand, natural disasters also generate a large amount of waste and in an unplanned manner, which leads to having such waste out of the management budget. The literature shows the different efforts that are made to establish the best practices of urban waste management.

The information available to international organizations on water management suggest that some results are being achieved that move toward optimal water management and sustainability in this area. But there also are projections for the next 20–30 years that indicate that various places in the world will have serious problems with water supply. More consolidated information is required to understand and improve the current institutional behavior of water management as well as its multiple intervening factors. To achieve better understanding and planning and to facilitate cost-efficient results, the use of artificial intelligence as a key tool for handling large volumes of data will likely prove necessary.

Climate change is a significant environmental concern in cities and that needs urgent action through the activities of companies, organizations, and citizens. Intergovernmental policies are increasingly required as are, at the same time, transformations of institutions such as governments and universities.

The generation of sustainable cities that promote the development of citizens who take a sustainable approach is increasingly important. Some suggest that climate change focus should be mandatory to the behavior of the people in the cities, including products and services offered and received. Also, since various global agreements and regulations serve as a guide for planned efforts, cities have an important role as a guide activity for enhancing understanding, mitigation, and adaptation of climate change.

Globally, the financial behavior of consumer is very relevant for companies, governments, and of course the consumers themselves. Major problem currently is the lack of sufficient knowledge among consumers about financial planning, known as financial literacy. Lack of such knowledge leads families and citizens to opt for wrong decisions that are financially expensive, resulting in increased debt load and depletion of retirement funds.

This study analyzes the effect of the university ecosystem, self-efficacy of the students, social entrepreneurial perception of the entrepreneur on the social entrepreneurial intention. Second-generation structural equation method (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the results, specifically, the SmartPLS 3.2.7 software applied to data on 6425 Peruvian university students. The validity of an explanatory model of entrepreneurial intention was evaluated based on personal and situational determinants. The main contribution of this study is to show that 63% of students had an intention of social entrepreneurship; no significant differences were found in the sex of the students with respect to the intention of entrepreneurship. Only 18% were participating in a social enterprise. It was evidenced that the entrepreneurial support provided by the university ecosystem does not directly influence the social entrepreneurial intention (β = 0.038, p = 0.001), nor in the self-efficacy developed by the students (β = −0.045, p = 0.551). However, it directly influences the entrepreneurial orientation (β = −0.185, p = 0.001) and the positive perception of the social entrepreneur (β = −0.241, p = 0.001). Through these variables (which assume a mediating role), the university ecosystem exerts an indirect influence on self-efficacy and later on entrepreneurial intention. The results are useful to design models of development of social enterprises in the universities taking into account all the factors reported as important by the students.

Green consumerism has expanded quickly throughout the developed world, and it has started to emerge in developing nations as well. Many theories try to explain consumer habits, and in recent years, the importance of consumption has become highlighted primarily because of concerns about the quality of the environment and interest in sustainable development processes. In short, environmentally responsible purchasing is vital as an antidote to the unnecessary purchasing of goods which can severely harm the environment. Over the last decade, many authors have studied different green consumer purchasing behaviors. They have identified several influential factors that help to shape shopping decisions. Such studies explain inconsistencies between green purchasing attitude and actual behavior.

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations seek the transformation of society, in order to achieve sustainable development for all the inhabitants of the Earth. Cities are an important part of this effort, as they are the nucleus for the generation of plans and actions for the fulfillment of many of the SDGs. Including resilience in global plans can help cities succeed in spite of their particular complications. The advantages and disadvantages that artificial intelligence can bring to the SDGs, as well as the various results that have been achieved, are raised. Monitoring of the SDG Index and the Tier Classification for Global SDG Indicators are presented as reference tools for actions oriented towards the SDGs. Finally, progress on SDG compliance is described. The SDGs need coordinated efforts to record and measure the progress made.

Throughout the book, sustainability is approached from economic, environmental, and social perspectives, in large part because this multidimensional topic requires a comprehensive approach, at governmental, corporate, and individual levels. For this reason, the various tools available used to monitor activities that seek to impact sustainability are presented. Energy sustainability is a fundamental pillar of sustainable development since it helps ensure that the activities of society are carried out. This is relevant since, in many cities, energy resources are being used without having a defined long-term plan. For that reason, it is necessary to select properly energy resources and their usage for the various human activities in a city. In this book, an emphasis is placed on efficient energy management.