Green Communities in Urban Planning

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In recent years due to an increased level of environmental contamination, the problem of environmental protection is very important. More and more people begin to realize the necessity of harmonious coexistence with nature. Under such circumstances, much attention is paid to green communities as the most appropriate form of living in balance with nature — one of the examples of such a green community in Copenhagen.

Together with such cities as Hamburg, Nantes, Bristol, and Stockholm, Copenhagen is the project participant of the program, which is called European Green Capital. Twenty years ago, it was impossible to imagine the possibility of swimming in Copenhagens harbor because of its acute pollution. Nowadays, due to a special cleaning program implemented by local authorities, the harbor bath of Copenhagen is a favorite place of citizens.

Copenhagen has made considerable achievements in the development of its green economy. There have been implemented many programs of eco-innovation, aiming cooperation with companies, working with students, and the creation of forums of any kind in the sphere of green growth.

Due to the implementation of these programs and prudent municipal planning, Copenhagen is known as an environmentally friendly and green city (“Copenhagen. European Green Capital 2014” 7).

The model of the green development of the city suggests various environmental initiatives and economic progress and an increase in living standards. In accordance with this program, the main aim of the local authorities is to make Copenhagen a carbon-neutral city by 2025.

Nowadays, there is a tendency for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions year after year. It has been achieved due to a wide range of initiatives, which implied a re-equipment of old buildings, conversions of power stations of the city to biomass, and construction of new wind turbines (“Copenhagen. European Green Capital 2014” 23).

Now more than 31% of all electricity needed for Denmark is produced by means of wind turbines. It is the highest figure of wind energy usage in the world. The aim of the Dutch government is to increase this proportion by up to 50% by 2020.

The local authorities pay much attention to the development of wind farms. At the present moment, one wind farm is situated on the coast of Copenhagen, but in accordance with the governments green policy in the coming years, there will be built additional wind turbines. With this purpose, many investors are enticed.

The most common definition of the notion of environmental injustice is a disproportionate exposure of some human groups to a higher levels of environmental risks than other segments of society (Kibert 172).

The problem of environmental justice is intimately connected with the inverse notion, such as environmental injustice, which is sometimes called ecological racism. As a rule, it deals with the ecological discrimination of different social, racial groups, or even states and nations.

The discussion of this phenomenon took place in 1970^th, mainly in the USA. The benchmark for the investigation of this issue was researches of the American sociologist Robert Bullard who was considered as the originator of the environment injustice theory. He studied a struggle of an Afro-American community against the government, which had made a decision to organize a waste deposit in the place of their living.

In his work, he states that the population with a low socioeconomic status undergoes a serious environmental impact. The trouble is that houses in environmentally unfriendly districts are rather cheap because of low living conditions.

At the same time, large corporations and companies prefer to organize illegal waste deposits in these places where disadvantaged groups live. Such a practice is caused by the fact that as a rule, the level of education of these people is rather low, and in such a way, a chance to win a lawsuit against this company is reduced to minimum.

One of the most common examples of environmental injustice is a solution of ecological problems of developed states at the expense of poor countries. It is also possible to mention noncompliance with ecological standards during the extraction of raw materials.

Ecological injustice is largely predetermined by economic reasons. For instance, transportation of toxic wastes to the Third World countries permits to whittle down expenses connected with waste disposal. At the same time, political and social aspects are also very important. In spite of the fact that in contemporary society, the equality of human rights has been proclaimed, the problem of environmental injustice is still rather pressing.

Different researchers propose various ways of this problem solution. For instance, Kibert distinguishes between several aspects of achieving environmental justice. Speaking about legal solution Barry E. Hill states (as cited in Kibert) that the problem is that “environmental lawyers are not conversant in civil rights approaches to litigation…

On the other hand, civil rights lawyers are not very familiar with environmental law (176). In such a way, in order to increase chances to win a suit against an enterprise, which violates ecological laws, it is necessary to combine civil law and environmental law into one coherent area (Kibert 176).

As a variant of a practical solution to this problem, Kibert proposes to increase the general level of education of people from disadvantaged groups and to improve their living conditions (Kibert 181). In general, the majority of researches on this problem agrees that it is necessary to adhere to the general principle of environmental justice, which states that “public policy should be based on mutual respect and justice for all people” (“The Principles of Environmental Justice” par.2).

Works Cited

Copenhagen. European Green Capital 2014. 2013. Web.

Kibert, Nicole. Green Justice: a Holistic Approach to Environmental Injustice. 2003. Web.

The Principles of Environmental Justice. 2015. Web.

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Green Communities in Urban Planning

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