Urban sustainability: how can cities become sustainable?
Photo (c) Rahbek Media on Unsplash
Europe is a highly urbanised continent. Today, around 75 % of Europe’s population live in urban areas. Estimates predict that European urban population will rise to 80 % in 2050. The urban landscape of Europe is heterogenous and characterised by a diversity of mostly small and medium cities.
of European population live in urban areas, in 2021
There are less than 30 cities in the EU with a population of more than one million. According to an assessment by UN-habitat in 2016, of these cities, only Paris and London can be considered megacities – high density metropolises of more than 10 million inhabitants.
The urbanization pattern of Europe
The EU has a key role in promoting sustainable urban development. But cities (local authorities in general) have their own governance setting and therefore, are best placed to take local action to tackle and resolve environmental challenges, whilst ensuring a good quality of life for their citizens. Traditionally, they are crucial in improving waste and water management, public transport and efficiently using land by implementing integrated urban planning. Today, they also take centre stage on climate change adaptation and ecosystems preservation and restoration.
How can cities transform to become more sustainable ?
Urban systems are inherently complex. With the ample support of urban stakeholders, the EEA developed a conceptual model and selected six observation and analysis lenses to assess the role of cities in urban transitions towards environmental sustainability, within the broad European Green Deal framework and the EU Urban Agenda. Based on the stakeholders-led assessment process several outputs have been co-created.
Conceptual framework for urban environmental sustainability
EEA outputs on the relevance of cities’ environment transitions towards sustainability
Read the assessments
- Urban sustainability in Europe – What is driving environmental change?
- Urban Sustainability in Europe – Opportunities for challenging times
- Urban sustainability in Europe – A stakeholder-led assessment process
- Urban sustainability in Europe – Glossary of key terms and concepts
- Urban sustainability in Europe – Avenues for change
- Urban Sustainability in Europe – Learning from nexus analysis
Explore other EEA products supporting knowledge towards sustainability at the city and local level
The Resilient City
City, in which the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems enable them to survive, adapt, and grow in response to chronic stresses and acute shocks.
- How are Europe’s cities adapting to climate change and moving to a sustainable future?
- Sustainability: What are the alternatives to economic growth?
- Growth without economic growth
- EU renewable electricity has reduced environmental pressures; targeted actions help further reduce impacts
- Urban adaptation in Europe: how cities and towns respond to climate change
- Urban waste water treatment for 21st century challenges
- Towards ‘just resilience’: leaving no one behind when adapting to climate change
The green city
City models based on approaches to functional and ecological urban development design, provide healthy and sustainable environments for both natural systems and communities.
- Nature-based solutions in Europe: Policy, knowledge and practice for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
- Access to green urban areas within a ten minute walk in cities across Europe
- Bio-waste in Europe – turning challenges into opportunities
- Floodplains: a natural system to preserve and restore
- Tools to support green infrastructure planning and ecosystem restoration
- Mapping Europe’s ecosystems
- Land systems at European level – analytical assessment framework
- Copernicus Urban Atlas used for assessing access to green areas in Europe's cities
- Urban Green Infrastructure, 2018
- Urban tree cover
- Who benefits from nature in cities? Social inequalities in access to urban green and blue spaces across Europe
The low carbon city
City that has achieved or moving towards achieving low-carbon practices in all its aspects including economy, daily life (e.g., travel, politics and culture).
The inclusive city
City, in which the processes of development include a wide variety of citizens and activities and involving spatial, social and economic inclusion.
- The sustainability transition in Europe in an age of demographic and technological change
- Drivers of change of relevance for Europe’s environment and sustainability
- Is Europe living within the limits of our planet?
- Sustainability transitions: policy and practice
- Unequal exposure and unequal impacts: social vulnerability to air pollution, noise and extreme temperatures in Europe
- Who benefits from nature in cities? Social inequalities in access to urban green and blue spaces across Europe
- Towards ‘just resilience’: leaving no one behind when adapting to climate change
- Exposure of vulnerable groups to climate risks
The healthy city
City with physical and social environments and community resources, which enable people to perform all the functions of life and develop to their maximum potential.
- European city air quality viewer
- Health risks caused by environmental noise in Europe
- Air quality in Europe – 2020 report
- Healthy environment, healthy lives: how the environment influences health and well-being in Europe
- Assessing air quality through citizen science
- Environmental noise in Europe - 2020
- Europe’s urban air quality – re-assessing implementation challenges in cities
The circular city
City, in which all product and material streams can be brought back into the cycle after use, and become a resource for new products and services.
- Digital technologies will deliver more efficient waste management in Europe
- A framework for enabling circular business models in Europe
- The case for increasing recycling: estimating the potential for recycling in Europe
- Europe’s consumption in a circular economy: the benefits of longer lasting electronics
- Construction and demolition waste: challenges and opportunities in a circular economy
Background information: Cities’ influence in policy making
The influence of cities in EU policymaking has been increasingly recognised over the last few decades, including through the establishment of the Committee of the Regions in 1994 and the signing of the Leipzig Charter in 2006 (updated in 2020). The Pact of Amsterdam from 2016 culminated in the Urban Agenda for the EU, giving new impetus to and integrating the already many instruments dedicated to cities. Furthermore, city networks and associations are becoming increasingly important in shaping global climate and sustainability agreements.
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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/sustainability-transitions/urban-environment/urban-sustainability or scan the QR code.
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