Sustainability Approaches to Urban Planning: Re-Cycling Urbanism
The present article discusses the concept of sustainable development and its influence on urban planning which has led to a number of urban policies, concepts, and different urban forms. It emphasizes research on one of the new approaches to urban planning, i.e. recycling urbanism. The article concludes with an assessment of contemporary urban planning in Slovenia, primarily characterized by a relative lack of comprehensive approaches.
While the growth of global urban centres is primarily attributable to population growth, Slovenian towns are stagnating due to suburbanization. The urban centres have failed to timely adapt to new forms of living, climate change and excessive energy consumption; in consequence they are becoming cramped, unhealthy and wasteful. This has led to criticisms of existing development paradigms and operative lack of responsiveness on the part of sustainable policies. Based on relevant literature on sustainability – urban policies, concepts, and urban forms –, the paper shows that town planning approaches in Slovenia still primarily deal with solving problems of necessary investments, leaving comprehensive urban solutions based on long-term visions on hold. Meanwhile, the global contemporary town planning approaches based on sustainability principles tend towards interventions into existing urban space. One such approach is urban recycling; a form of urban intervention aimed at adaption of the urban environments to contemporary needs on the basis of comprehensive approach which includes collecting and analysing data on the existing situation and integrates observations with practice.
Sodobna mesta po svetu se širijo predvsem pod pritiskom rasti prebivalstva, v Sloveniji pa stagnirajo predvsem pod vplivom suburbanizacije. Mesta se niso pravočasno odzvala na nove oblike bivanja, na podnebne razmere in na preveliko porabo energije ter so zato postala utesnjena, nezdrava in potratna. To sproža kritiko dosedanjih paradigem razvoja in operativne neodzivnosti trajnostnih politik. Na podlagi pregledane literature o fenomenu trajnosti – urbanih politik, konceptov in oblik mest – prispevek ugotavlja, da se načrtovalski procesi v slovenskih mestih še vedno prednostno ukvarjajo z reševanjem nujnih investicij, celostno reševanje mesta na podlagi dolgoročnih vizij pa še vedno ostaja odprto vprašanje. Medtem pa sodobni globalni pristopi v urbanističnem načrtovanju mest na trajnostnih načelih težijo k intervencijam v obstoječi mestni prostor. Eden od takih pristop je reciklaža mesta, ki poseže v mesto z namenom, da ga prilagodi sodobnim zahtevam na osnovi celostnega pristopa, ki vključuje zbiranje in analizo podatkov o obstoječem stanju in ugotovitve povezuje s prakso.
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