Cheonggyecheon Stream Downtown Seoul, an 11 km long, modern public recreation space in downtown Seoul, South Korea.
By
MOONO JOHN
According to the General Assembly of the United Nations in September of 2015 adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Building on the principle of “leaving no one behind”, the new Agenda emphasizes a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all.
It has dawned before mankind that the activities of technological advancement that did not take into account the effects of those actions are finally before man’s sight. These effects are here to stay for as long as man exists.
Planning authorities need to take up the mantle and thinking beyond what an ordinary man can see. Benighted Africa may see but can take advantage of the relatively low levels of development by planning and implementing green cities.
These cities would aim at reducing or eliminating fossil-fuel use that is to say that they would use cleaner fuels and reducing the amount of motor vehicles in the environment in a bid to make the world a better place than it is currently. The cities would also adopt sustainable building practices, promote “green space” and clean air quality, implement energy-efficient and widely available public transportation, create walkable city designs and develop well-organized mixed-use neighborhoods that combine living, working and shopping. These qualities add up to sustainable urbanism
The planning and the actual implementation of the aforementioned cities would help in ensuring that citizens of different countries of the world have clean water and better sanitation, their well being and good health for all becomes a reality. This is so because the lifestyles that would be encouraged in these cities would ones that would prevent no-communicable diseases. The design of these cities would provide for facilities that would encourage a healthy lifestyle.
For example, in Zambia with much of the land still under the traditional authorities, the government through the Ministry of Local Government can negotiate with the traditional powers to release some land in various parts of the country in order to undertake this mammoth project. Preferably, Zambia being vast, this project can be undertaken in each of the ten provinces in order to open the country to more development opportunities that may come with the implementation of these green cities. This might seem as if it is a day dream but with carefully planning and commitment from all well-meaning citizens it can come to reality. It may seem that it a story in fantasyland but even the best cities in the world started from the scratch and today the stand tall as the best cities.
Zambia needs the planning and implementation of these green cities than it needs to continue developing the already congested cities. This would go a long way in decongesting the major cities of the country. The local authorities need to take the lead by starting the planning process before the actual implementation does take shape.
Trees between Office Buildings
My Writings 