New Urbanism
How to reduce your carbon footprint
Your lifestyle determines your carbon footprint. Where you live and work, how much water and electricity you use, what you eat and wear, how you get around, the amount of waste you generate and how much food you throw away… all contribute to your impact on the environment. And there are broader factors too, including the roads you use, the buildings and services you require, and the production methods of the consumer products you purchase.
Measurements vary depending where they’re taken, but the inconvenient truth is, we’re using and producing so much that the planet cannot recover fast enough to sustain life. Waiting for technological solutions, laws or incentives to fix things isn’t enough. We need to take personal responsibility. A mixed-use development lets you do exactly that.
Transport:
Mixed-use precincts meet most of your daily needs within easy walking distance by letting you live, work and unwind in places that are close together. Walkability means less time in traffic, lower fuel costs, reductions in road use, air pollution and vehicle maintenance, and more. You could even forego a vehicle altogether and use ride-hailing services. It all adds up to lightening your impact on the environment.
Pollution:
A mixed-use environment addresses multiple sources of pollution:
| Air pollution: Walking and cycling more, and using a vehicle less often, helps drive down levels of air pollution.
| Noise pollution: Locating apartments, offices, shops, restaurants, health clubs, etc. in the single location of a mixed-use development, also consolidates sources of noise instead of them occurring all over vast urban areas.
| Light pollution: Lighting can be controlled so that beams of light don’t point up into the darkness at night, or out towards surrounding areas that are already lit up, wasting energy and causing unnecessary light pollution.
Energy:
Natural light is used extensively within a mixed-use environment like Harbour Arch, so there is less need for electric lighting.
Energy-saving settings on smart devices enable greater efficiency, for example escalators slow down when not in use, and elevators group riders together before they get on so that there are fewer stops per ride.
Waste
Traditionally, waste is collected from a number of places spread out across streets and city blocks. In a development like Harbour Arch the same types of waste (residential, office, retail) can be collected together, quickly and easily because everything is within a single location. Fewer collections mean shorter distances for refuse trucks and less air pollution, and walkability means cleaners can push wheeled bins to central points within the precinct further limiting energy usage.