INFILL DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT AN ANSWER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
It is understood that with our modernized societies and with our fast paced progress, development is inevitable. With development, there will always be some resources that have to be used or in economic terms, given up, for us to attain that new level of development. With the level of progress of our society, it is soon becoming our latest fear that soon we will have used up all the resources of the planet, or furthermore, will have made some irreparable damage to our plant, such as the greenhouse effect. Many great thinkers and experts, like Milbrath, have endlessly criticized the brutal use of the natures resources by the industrial society, declaring it to be the cause of potential destruction of our planet. Milbrath has been an active advocate of the cause of preserving our planet and has written works like Envisioning a sustainable society on this topic.
The problem with the so called modernized society as we see around us today is that we are consuming the natural resources of our planet at a much faster rate than the one with which these resources are regenerated. As said by Milbrath
Not only has modern industrial society created this crisis, but in my judgment, it is not capable of producing a solution. (Milbrath L. 1989, p. 40)
The human population mainly consumes the resources of land, plants and trees, water and minerals for the purpose of employing the many devices and inventions that have been created for the ease and benefit of the humanity. The use of such devices is not being prohibited here, only their level of use is being cautioned. As with the increase of use of such resources, there is an ever increasing threat of these resources getting completely depleted. With some non-renewable resources, such as minerals, oil etc, the threat of depletion runs very high. For other renewable resources, such as water, wood etc, the threat is less, but still high if we compare the amount of these resources that were present in the past to the amount that is available today, as these resources are getting less with each passing day. Thus if renewable resources are not regenerated with the same rate as they are being utilized by the population, we have a potential scenario that one day these resources might also disappear or become too scarce to have any commercial use.
Another major problem with our modernized society is that it has cost the degradation of our environment at a very massive scale. Issues such as depletion of the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, global warming, disappearance of rain forests, increased air and water pollution have raised alarm bells all over the world that the environment needs proper care from the people of the planet. Yet sadly, there have been no huge efforts to stop these issues. The corporations, governments and the people continue to utilize and deplete the natural environment and the offered resources that there seems to be no stopping of the ongoing destruction of the environment.
Due to all these reasons our society has been declared as one with an unfriendly environment attitude, and basically an unsustainable environmental society. Profound thinkers, such as Lester Milbrath etc, have linked these issues with the future of our society, and it seems to be very bleak one. They are constantly thinking for means to overcome these hurdles. Thus the concept of a sustainable society was given as an attempt to take care of the prevailing environmental issues. A sustainable society is one that believes in not only consuming and utilizing the resources offered by nature at a moderately conserving rate, but also to repay the nature in terms of conserving or regenerating the resources, so that the resources are at a constant level. The prime consideration for a sustainable society is the concept of grow what you have reaped, i.e. in order to keep the resources of the society at a nearly constant level, the society must seek out means to pay back the society and the environment for the resources utilized. Furthermore, a sustainable society is one that seeks out methods for the vitalization of the environment, recognizing the fact that in order for future generations to have the world to live in, we must conserve the natural resources and the environment. But this requires from us to change our mindset, to change our style of living and thinking.
A vision for such a society, keeping in mind the human need of development, was devised and came to be known as sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development implies the use of only such methods of development and to initiate new developmental methods that focus on conserving the natural resources and the environment. Development of the society should not stop or slow down, but now the focus of development should also include innovating developmental techniques for the preservation of environment, preservation of resources and regeneration of resources that are consumed by the society.
A sustainable society does something more than keep people aliveso that future generations of people, and other creatures, can enjoy a life of decent quality (Milbrath L., 1989, p. 41)
Sustainable development has made some tremendous progress in the last few years that we have seen. Many new developmental methods that were previously never been imagined are now being tested and showing vast potential for both development and environmental sustainability. These methods, though being employed at very small scales, yet have shown such positive results that many governments have announced their implementation at vast levels. Two of such methods include infill development and transit oriented development.
Infill development is a new concept that has recently been devised to counter against the problems of growing population and less space for housing. With the growing population on Earth, more space was being cleared for development and housing, leaving less space for forests and trees. The concept of infill development states using the barren areas in already developed regions to carry out new housing and developmental projects. Furthermore, infill development urges using under-developed portions of a society, that are left for one or the other reason, and transform them into houses or any other kind of developmental project, such as gym, recreation centre etc. The main concept behind this theory of development is to develop across the factor of increasing the density of population in the already developed suburban areas. This is primarily known as suburban infill. It has the major advantage that more people can live in the same area, thus we dont need to clear more space for the expansion of the society and destroying nature such as trees, forests etc. Also a major benefit could be that more people will be nearer, decreasing the additional hassles of developing roads and increased transportation.
Another kind of infill development is infill housing, where the concept is to increase the population density of a particular housing area by increasing the number of housing units. This vertical development has many advantages such as less space coverage, less developmental cost for additional housing, no additional utilities cost to be taken and less damage to the environment. A sustainable society can be developed with such a method being used for the housing of the members of the society, as his method houses more people with fewer resources utilized.
The second kind of sustainable development that is getting very positive results is transit oriented development. The transit oriented development basically focuses on the development of a society along the foundation of its train or transit system. The focus of development is to build the society in such a way that all the parts of the society can be linked through the transit system, As well as the transit system should be at a very near distance from each geographic point or area of the society. Such a society development would ensure that the major transport available and utilized will be the transit system. This carries many benefits. Firstly, according to the definition of a sustainable society, such a society should focus on the preservation and care of nature. Through a transit oriented society, there will be less use of automobiles, thus less fuel consumption as well as les air pollution. Secondly, another advantage could be the ease of traveling with the society without the hassle of maintaining automobiles or problems of traffic. As there will be less pollution in the region, so the quality of life of the society and its members will also increase, and the people will lead healthier lives.
Transit oriented societies and development has vast potential for our current societies. Keeping in mind the views if sustainable society as given by Milbrath, infill development and transit oriented development can help in achieving that society, as both focus on preserving nature, using science to serve natural development, and providing means to develop with limited resources and less damage to environment. Thus these methods can bring about a sustainable society as visualized by Milbrath in his books.
Infill development and transit oriented development are the two major forms of sustainable development that we are being successfully implemented today at small levels. Both have so far given very positive results. Both have shown a tendency for the continuation of the development pace of our current societies, with giving something back to the society in form of preservation of its environment and using less of the environmental resources. We are very positive that these two methods, if implemented on a society wide basis, can become the forms of a sustainable society such as the one given by Milbrath, where love, justice, security and self-realization are the core elements. Such a society is vital not only for our healthier lives, but also for the survival of this planet and our future generations. But this is a decision that we have to make soon, for the future of our planet rests upon it.
Once we have contemplated the future, every decision that could affect that future becomes a moral decision..Those who understand what is happening to our world are not free to shrink from this responsibility. (Milbrath L., 1989, p. 51)
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