Examples Of Mitigation Strategies: Solution To A Sustainable Future

Mitigation strategies: solution to a sustainable future? Introduction Society is continuously growing and rapidly aging. More people, means more traffic density, more pollution, increasing energy consumption, less natural habitats, sinking water resources and land shortage of housing. These are some of the problems we, as a society, have nowadays. By 2050 66% of the world’s population will be urban (Powell, 2016). All these people want different things, some require increased mobility, others prefer a green park in front of his house. A strategic approach will be required to achieve a sustainable city to ensure that it functions efficiently. So there is a big challenge for us as planners: How will the quality of life be conserved in future

Air pollution is one of the major health risks for humanity. At present, it is estimated that urban outdoor air pollution causes 1.3 million deaths per year worldwide (Max Planck Gesellschaft , 2012). That number will increase in coming years. which should be a big enough reason for us as planners to contribute to decrease the air pollution.

Luckily there are many mitigation strategies to reduce air pollution. One we can use in cities is increasing the use of public transport or the use of bikes. When more people go to work by bike or bus, the city streets won’t be as crowded. Less people will be stuck in traffic, which automatically reduces air pollution in the cities.

Another positive point of public transport is the low emission of carbon dioxide compared to the emission of a normal car. The CO₂ emission in grams per passenger per km is 205 for a car compared to 186 per bus and 56 per rail (Future Travel, 2012). Stimulating people to use public transport will thereby help to further reduce air pollution. Cities can be designed to speed up public transport. Bikes have no pollution, but still a lot of cities in the world only focus on