GREEN INFRAESTRUCTURE

Throughout history, cities have constituted spaces of separation with

nature in which they can survive in a civilized way, through these
recreational centers such as parks or green areas, allowing cities to
achieve a certain level of sustainability (De los Santos, 2019).
Urban centers and cities in general around the world, especially
developing countries, are growing at an unprecedented scale. 10
years ago, 40% of the world's population lived in urban areas. Since
then, this figure has almost doubled and it is estimated that by 2025
more than half of the population of the developing world will be urban
as a result of indiscriminate population expansion (FAO, 2010).
According De los Santos (2019), as the world population increases
and large metropolises expand, more and more social consequences
are created. For the most part, the rapid expansion of cities is carried
out without any “land use strategy”. Similarly, the environmental
effects of urbanization are often intensified by the climate change of
our planet, and it is at this point that nature can help us counteract
these kinds of problems through parks and green areas.

DEFINITION

It is here that the concept of “Green Cities” enters opportunely, which

are those cities that can be related to sustainability, respect for mother
nature can be considered as a green city; those cities that seek to
achieve urban environmental agreements that help to take advantage
of natural resources in the best possible way, creating better projects
that help in matters related to the areas of energy, waste reduction,
transport, water, environmental health among others. One of the main
characteristics of a green city is that we can consider it as a city where
there is no pollution and there are natural recreation spaces, they are
cities in which their houses and buildings are built with materials that
help preserve the environment. They are cities in which their
inhabitants receive an optimal environmental education, live, respect
the ecosystem and where the population works hand in hand with the
government to confront and mitigate environmental problems on a
large scale. Through these characteristics cities can be brighter and
greener, being an example of a revolution that will change people's
quality of life, offer them well-being and prosperity while taking care
of the environment (De los Santos, 2019).

TYPES

Certain cities around the world are characterized by having citizens

with a code of green behavior with the environment, some examples
of types of green and sustainable cities include:

1. Curitiba, Brazil: characterized as the greenest city in Latin America,

located in one of the richest countries in natural resources, since it
has managed to conserve them, since it has 14 forests, hundreds of
green spaces. Its efficient garbage recycling system processes 70%,
has planted around 1.5 million trees and has a transport system worth
admiring (Lordméndez, 2014).

2. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: a city where luxury and

exuberance are not fought with nature. The same technology used in
its majestic buildings is what makes energy efficiency, responsible
water use and waste reduction possible (Lordméndez, 2014).

3. Cape Town, South Africa: the sustainability of this great city where
the 2010 World Cup was celebrated revolves around the
improvement of traffic and energy efficiency that is reflected in its
public lighting, this refers to the control of the number of vehicles on
the road if we are willing to change the car for a bicycle or public
transport (Lordméndez, 2014).

4. Copenhagen, Denmark: The Copenhagen 2025 Climate Plan sets

this city on its way to being the first carbon neutral capital. This plan
includes the objective of reducing energy consumption in commercial
buildings by 20%, in homes by 10% and public buildings by 40%.
Public lighting will use 50% less energy and all the city's electricity
consumption will come from renewable sources by 2025 (Estévez,
2013).

5. Melbourne, Australia: This city has devised sustainable buildings

that encourage building owners and managers to improve efficiency
in energy and water use and reduce waste to a minimum. The
municipal government has set the objective of reducing carbon
emissions from the commercial sector by 25% and from the
residential by 20% (Estévez, 2013).

6. Berlin, Germany: lively and green; This is the German capital, it is

full of parks and gardens (about 2500 in an urban area). Since 1990
it has reduced a third of its CO2 emissions and now continues to cut
them by 85% before 2050, in addition many of its buildings use gray
water to irrigate green roofs and encourage the circular economy by
paying 0.25 euros for each plastic bottle that is recycled (Gómez,
2019).

CASES IN THE WORLD

Urban and peri-urban horticulture (HUP) is the production of a wide

variety of crops such as fruits, vegetables, roots, tubers and
ornamental plants, in cities and urban centers, as well as in their
surrounding areas. It is estimated that 130 million inhabitants of urban
centers in Africa and 230 million in Latin America practice agriculture,
especially horticulture to provide food for their families or earn income
from the sale of their products (FAO, 2010).

Over the past 10 years, governments in 20 countries have sought

FAO's help to remove obstacles and provide incentives, inputs and
training to low-income "urban farmers", from the expanding
metropolises of West and Central Africa to the neighborhoods low
income from Managua, Caracas and Bogotá. The FAO program and
other similar initiatives of partner organizations have demonstrated
how horticulture contributes to emancipating the poor sectors of the
urban population and strengthens their food security and their
nutrition. But the most important thing is that it contributes to creating
“Greener Cities”, better able to face social and environmental
challenges, from the improvement of slums and the management of
urban waste to the creation of jobs and community development
(FAO, 2010).

An example that since Inca times the division of areas destined for a
common activity for the satisfaction of basic needs guaranteed a
sustainable development

Fuente: FAO (2010).

CASES FROM PERU

Lima was considered among the “10 greenest cities in Latin America
and the Caribbean” by FAO, due to the progress made in the
achievement of cities where agriculture is recognized in public
policies and is included in urban development strategies. FAO
research shows that the main advantage of urban and peri-urban
agriculture is to provide better access to food for low-income families,
and specifically in these practices there is a clear trend towards the
adoption of agricultural technologies that produce more food, and
better quality, at the same time optimize the use of natural resources
and reduce dependence on agrochemicals (El Correo, 2014).
There is an initiative in our country called "My Green City", which is a
movement aimed at Lima and other urban centers in Peru to help
nature from our homes, work and even on the street, the idea is
recover the connection of people with nature and spread a green
culture from our cities, from the construction of an eco-responsible
community. The purpose of this movement is to raise awareness in
the population about the need to reduce our own ecological footprint
and promote simple and daily commitments to help the environment
by building an eco-responsible urban community, as a first step to
boost commitments from companies, municipalities and other
authorities with good environmental practices (WWF, 2019).

CRITICAL OPINION
The green areas are key to improving the health of the population,
since they act as lungs that renew the polluted air improving the air
quality and above all giving an “eco-friendly” aspect where there is a
balance between the big cities and the green areas , then the
implementation of these green cities starting from the great world
powers to the poorest areas of the developing countries guarantees
a type of “Resilient” urbanism, since the adaptation to the great
anthropogenic changes in relation to the imposition of Cities on
ecosystems turn out to be a planning point that involves economic,
social and especially environmental aspects. This is why this new
worldview on how to guarantee the satisfaction of needs in a
sustainable way, producing more with less with the emergence of this
position of green cities is a way to devise a neutral point between
economic growth and sustainable growth, guaranteeing only thus the
future of the next generations.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
 De los Santos, E. (2019). Ciudades Verdes ¿Qué son? Parques
Alegres Blog. Recuperado de:
https://parquesalegres.org/biblioteca/blog/ciudades-verdes-
que-son/
 Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la
Alimentación (2010). Crear Ciudades más Verdes. Recuperado
de: http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/greenercities/pdf/ggc-es.pdf
 Lordméndez, P. (2014). Las 10 ciudades más verdes del
mundo. Recuperado de:
https://www.nuevamujer.com/bienestar/2014/04/22/las-10-
ciudades-mas-verdes-del-mundo.html
 Estévez, R. (2013). Las 10 ciudades que lideran la
sostenibilidad urbana. Recuperado de:
https://www.ecointeligencia.com/2013/09/10-ciudades-lideres-
sostenibilidad-urbana/
 Gómez, C. (2019). Las 10 ciudades más verdes del mundo.
Recuperado de: https://ethic.es/2019/03/10-ciudades-verdes-
mundo/
 WWF (2019). Mi ciudad verde. Recuperado de:
http://www.wwf.org.pe/mi_ciudad_verde.cfm
 Diario El Correo (2014). Lima una de las 10 ciudades más
verdes de América Latina. Recuperado de:
https://diariocorreo.pe/peru/lima-una-de-las-10-ciudades-mas-
verdes-de-am-38515/