Efficiency towards urban systems

• Author(s): Vieira, Susana Andreia Machado ; Bragança, L.
• Date: 2012
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/21856
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Urban efficiency; Sustainability; Urban system; Rehabilitation
• Document Type: Conference Object
• Language: English

Description

Processes and expansion related to urban development put pressure on their natural environment. This pressure is translated into negative consequences for ecosystems, such as climate change, the reduction of the ozone layer and consequent loss of ability to absorb anthropic impacts from support system. The volume of emissions and impacts on support systems depends directly from the lifestyles of citizens and the management model of each city, the urban organization. This essay explores two attitudes towards the urban system, an interventional approach that seeks to optimize exploited resources, and a proactive approach, to reduce the consumption of natural resources, reaching the energy efficiency of cities and, simultaneously, reducing the inherent ecological footprint. The aim is to understand how the destructors phenomena can be reversed in order to correct and stabilize the deterioration caused upon the support system and how to plan and rehabilitate urban systems in order to reduce environmental impacts.