Essay Block 1

„City for citizens”

Essay in

Sustainable Architecture, Urban and Landscape Planning

at the Institute of Energy Efficient and Sustainable Design and Building at the
Technical University of Munich

Author Sheikh Usman Shahid

Matriculation ID: 03750200
Course: MSc. Civil Engineering

Submitted Munich, 09.11.2021

A City for its Citizens?
The term “City” by definition is a large and dense human settlement catering to multiple functions
and needs of its inhabitants, the “Citizens”. Needless to say, the numbers of each city throughout
the world vary however, most of them follow the same principle and trends. (University Press,
2021)

The global population is increasing at a significant rate from today’s 7.7 billion people this number
is predicted to increase to an alarming 9 billion by 2050. Moreover, the statistical data charts of
global population depict that by the year 2050 about 68% of the total world’s population would be
inhabitants to urban areas compared to the 55% today. Hence, the need to develop a smart and
sustainable city is evident. ((UN DESA), 2018) (Prospects, 2019)

The Sustainable City

Mankind has progressed and evolved in every aspect throughout history, and similar is the case
when it comes to the sustainability of urban areas. We have evolved, adopted and improved to
reach a point we are at today. However, this seems to be insufficient when expected to cater the
needs of growing population, hence an enhanced and amalgamated solution is required. (Pisani,
2017)

A Sustainable City and its Interdependencies.

As mentioned earlier the people and their demand is what makes up a city, and since each per-
son, their personality, objectives, wants and needs vary from every ither individuals a lot of factors
comes into play when opting for a solution.

From the city-wide interdependencies, such as mobility, energy, resources, climate, well-being,
building structure, green infrastructure and a body that administrates it all, to the factors including
human needs, the ‘Neurourbanism’ concept, Urban development, Diversification and Sustainable
Governance, all are connected and intertwined and effect each other on either macro or micro
level. Improving and catering to each factor and its sub-elements will have a positive influence
and hence moving towards a sustainable future.

Neurourbanism:
Neurourbanism is a study of relation between human psychology and urban areas. In the past
this was never taken into account when developing cities, however the research shows that it
has a huge effect and should be taken into consideration. For example, Social-Isolation; the
lack of interaction of an individual with the society has a high mortality rate than other known
harmful issues like smoking and alcohol.
On the other hand, being too socially dense has a drawback to, it’s the lack of privacy and per-
sonal space that people desire is eliminated in such situations.

Other mental health problems have been observed in the urban dwellers; they have a 40%
higher risk of depression, about more than 20% anxiety, and twice the risk of schizophrenia, as
well as isolation, loneliness and mental stress.
There are multiple reasons in play here, such as there might be pre-existing risk factors which
are enhanced when residing in a city, social and environmental factors have a huge impact on
mental health too. (How The City Affects Mental Health, n.d.)

Human Needs:
Subjective Well-Being:

Page 2 of 4
A personal evaluation of an individual’s life with regards to the lifestyle in the city.

Architectural psychology and environmental perception:

The human brain is a marvellous organ, about 90% of perception is totally subconscious; that
means the architecture and environment play a role in our mental state and psychology without
us even thinking about it.

Appropriation; human development as the interrelation of internal and external circumstances.

Stimulas; the interaction of people with the city itself.

Urban Development:
The Cities are also known as the ‘Financial Stronghold’, the ‘Economic hub’ and ‘Central busi-
ness District’. People feel the urge, and reasonably so, to reside in the urban area for either per-
sonal or financial goals. Hence the need to accommodate these arises. The relative occupancy
such houses, cars and commodities also increase and in turn these factors have an effect on the
economy as well.

Sustainable governance in urban areas:

The growth of cities is directly proportional to the emissions such as CO2, the pollution, the en-
ergy and resource consumption. However, there are cities that have already taken this into con-
sideration and are hence known as ‘sustainable’. Many concepts such as Carbon neutral build-
ings, Climate Neutral Cities and Net Zero Energy (NZE) structures have been introduced over
the years which might play a key role to establishing the development goals. This will not only
improve the physical health but also have a positive impact on mental health. (What is a “Carbon
Neutral” Building?, 2013)

Diversification in City:
Diversification has many elements; e.g. Education background, occupation / business, revenue /
income, age, nationality, race / ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious orientation.
Many people face challenges and discrimination due to such differences. Having, diversification
has its benefits too, people/migrants bring different concepts, food and culture etc. which adds
value to the city and the economy as well.

Hence a concept where all diversification is either inclusive or integrated in a city to attain a sus-
tainable future is much in demand. The ideology is to create to city where people with diversifi-
cation can become a part of the community and enjoy its benefits equally. (FAINSTEIN, 2005)

Combining the synergies to build a Sustainable City:

As noted above the synergies of every factor and its sub-elements play a significant role. The in-
terdependencies of City, the human psychology, the diversification, the urban development, the
sustainable governance and the wants & needs of people dwelling inside the city are all inter-
twined and effect each other. While some factors need to be improved to the highest achievable
state, others are best when kept in a perfect balance. Overall, every individual, government and
processing bodies need to take every factor into consideration in developing a sustainable city
where everybody gets to enjoy the livable and functional spaces with a good physical and mental
health.

Page 3 of 4
Bibliography

Balbach, T. (03. 03 2018). Why a smart city must be an inclusive city - On the new importance
of citizen participation . Von citizenlab: https://www.citizenlab.co/blog/smartcity/inklusive-
city-bedeutung-buergerbeteiligung/?lang=de abgerufen
Skyscraper Clipart. (kein Datum). Von hdclipartall: https://hdclipartall.com/skyscraper-20clipart-
skyscraper-clipart-1979_2618-058909.html abgerufen
University Press, C. (2021). City. Von Cambridge Dictionary:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/city abgerufen
(UN DESA), P. D. (2018). Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Von United Nations:
https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-
urbanization-prospects.html abgerufen
Prospects, W. P. (2019). Population. Von United Nations: https://www.un.org/en/global-
issues/population abgerufen
Pisani, J. A. (2017). Sustainable development – historical roots of the concept. Environmental
Sciences , 83-96. Von
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15693430600688831 abgerufen
How The City Affects Mental Health. (kein Datum). Von CENTRE FOR URBAN DESIGN AND
MENTAL HEALTH: https://www.urbandesignmentalhealth.com/how-the-city-affects-
mental-health.html abgerufen
FAINSTEIN, S. S. (2005). CITIES AND DIVERSITY Should We Want It? Can We Plan For It?
URBAN AFFAIRS REVIEW, 3-19.
What is a “Carbon Neutral” Building? (2013). Von http://www3.cec.org/islandora-
gb/islandora/object/islandora:1112/datastream/OBJ-EN/view abgerufen

Page 4 of 4