In the future speculation, 2050 is the year that will mark the tipping point of our ecology if we can’t work together to come up with a solution to reduce the greenhouse gas emission with the goal to bring the world temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius. In order to cope with the ongoing challenges and the declining health of our planet, we need to fully understand the roots of the problem, then come up with viable solutions and strategies.
.
Since the beginning of our urbanization, while humans have been advancing in technologies, we at the same time, are contributing to the downfall of climate change. Many cities around the world pose different areas of threats via the emissions that we produce, either from constructions of infrastructure, the consummation of power plants and electrical industry, the several combustions from industrial factories, or at the very least, transportation. These factors combined together can contribute to a great number of emissions that are dangerous to our atmosphere. The IPCC scientists warn global warming of 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century. At 2°C of global warming, heat extremes are more likely to reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and health. Therefore, we need to start transforming these grey infrastructures into green spaces. Through the process of creating green spaces, we would be able to develop in a way that increases our resilience capability and reduces our vulnerability to climate change. Once we induce these adaptive tools, we will be able to see the changes in our environment, social, and economic structure.
As a result of climate change, it has caused many negative impacts on the urban dwellers ranging from having to face severe and sometimes unpredictable floods due to the fact that the city infrastructure is unable to cope with high rainfall. Facing increasing temperature due to urban heat island from the concrete surface or facing pollution of pm 2.5 caused by fossil fuel in transportation emissions. Canals become drainage channels together with a pump to mitigate as part of engineering infrastructure. These changes also affect people’s well being especially the vulnerable ones who suffer from the NCD and air pollution as well as lacking physical activities as they are not accommodated with proper public spaces. The city has not only lost the adaptive capability but all the urban dwellers have also lost the adaptability attitude too.
.
Looking at our world and its advancing technologies every day, there is less to no chance of transforming it completely but rather, we should take on the act of gradual adaptation through these 9 principles. First is our negative attitude towards the undeviating natural disasters, alternatively, we should learn to embrace and incorporate the consistent will of nature in our lifestyles. Secondly, we need to understand that ‘green’ does not only mean trees, but it involves many infrastructures such as social, environmental, health, food, and biodiversity. Another thing we should consider is the various nature-based solutions to tailor to our grey-filled world. The attentive engagement of stakeholders is also a pivotal principle where people should be involved in the process. The next step is to raise awareness and enhance insights and knowledge among the communities and related parties. We hope to make technology an active platform that is accessible to everyone. One of the opportunities that green space provides us is the ability to allocate multiple activities in those creations. Finally, establish a mechanism that brings everyone together to achieve a common goal.
Therefore, in order to adapt, we need to look at the whole system as the big picture. Starting from the scale of a city to district, and development. Making sure that it works cohesively and that each aspect supports the other. With the study of the different typologies of green infrastructure components. Each type has a different role in mitigating the impact of natural disasters and climate change which can be applied at the various scales of the urban fabric:
.
Green Buffer – serves as a water detention and management system surrounding the city as a whole.
Green Plain – increases biodiversity and detains water in a particular area. It can be implemented where the flood is severe.
Green Link – promotes physical activities and serves as a green line that stretches to connect different spaces together through green areas while also improving the urban ecology of the city.
Green Building – implementing greens on the building parts such as rooftops, walls, or facades help cool down the temperature and is an act that integrates greens into the city.
Green Dot – pocket parks that are small-scale green spaces scattered around the city. It is low maintenance and helps lower the urban temperature in the city. These green dots can bring a new opportunity to vacant lots and wasted identity spaces in the city.
By achieving these green typologies in our city one at a time, the relations between buffers, plains, lines, buildings, and dots will create a positive impact on our environment. Therefore, we need to rethink the relation of each city component to make sure that it supports each other and it will be part of people’s lifestyle and behavior in the future.
n tackling environmental problems such as pollution, urban heat, and flood. For example, greens that are located on the sidewalks help absorb pollution from transport and generate a pleasant atmosphere for pedestrians when walking in the city. Green walls help relieve urban heat and cools down the building temperature resulting in less energy consumption. Making the impact of emissions less severe. These two typologies are not the only methods green spaces can help mitigate environmental issues, but there are much more we can do to contribute to the cause such as cooperating these spaces into the cities: safe zone and dust-filter shelters, bird sanctuaries, roof parks, green parking, rain gardens, canal and energy parks, or floating solar farms.