Malmo, Sweden, a planned city. Photo: Metropolitaneando on Pixabay
Most of the world’s cities do not have enough resources to become sustainable through planning alone
There has been remarkable progress in sustainable city planning. Beginning in Curitiba, Brazil, the movement has spread worldwide.
Yet making a city sustainable through planning is not easy. It requires Expertise (planners, architects, transportation specialists etc.), Tools (planning systems, legislation etc.), Money (studies, design and re-development), and Time (solve problems faster than they develop).
Most of the world’s over 3000 cities do not have enough of these resources. They need an alternative resource to complement, or even partially replace, formal planning. The only available resource, in every city rich or poor, is human capital. For more discussion on planning for sustainability, see Culture of Sustainability.