Description of Sustainable Cities of the NGO Arca Tierra
The construction of sustainable cities must be carbon neutral, adapted to the environmental conditions determined by their geographical location and socio-economic reality, to provide a better quality of life and production of prosperity for their inhabitants, with equal opportunities to exercise human and environmental rights. , as it expands at the pace of demographic growth and migratory movements, it must recover and conserve ecosystems, depending on climatic conditions.
The hectares covered by sustainable cities must represent the equivalent or more than the capacity for CO2 absorption and oxygen emission of hectares of forest, and fulfill their functions of favoring the recharge of groundwater and contributing to the recycling of atmospheric water without water pollution. . To achieve this, buildings and infrastructures must have:
BIOFACADES
Bio-skins of microalgae in photobioreactor systems that absorb CO2, emit oxygen and treat wastewater, in their photosynthesis process. The triangular meshes help for the arrangement of these systems and for the structural stability of the building.
WATER MANAGEMENT
Efficient water management systems that prevent flooding and scarcity, mainly including rainwater capture on roofs and paved and grass-covered floors, that store rainwater in special tanks. These components already exist today, which in turn filter the water and maintain the quality of the water in its storage.
WATER DYNAMICS
Inclusion in the previous systems of waterfalls, vegetation, sand, gravel and rocks in a constant circulation of the water, for its oxygenation, mineralization and quality.
PHYTORREMEDIATION AND BIO FERTILIZERS
Gardens in the infrastructures and soils that carry out phytoremediation for the treatment of gray water, CO2 capture and oxygen emission. Have vegetation and flowers to help thermal comfort and energy savings and for the repopulation and conservation of butterflies and bees.
Biodigesters for the treatment of sewage, production of biogas with algae and organic waste, and production of biofertilizers for aquaponic gardens and orchards for sustainable food production.
In order for cities to be carbon neutral, their buildings and infrastructures must generate various renewable energies, integrated into a generation, distribution and storage system in a water battery that runs through the city.
By way of example, to show its feasibility, South Korea recovered and integrated a river into the city of Seoul, for thermal comfort, reduction of CO2 emissions and recreation with the integration of nature into the city. Around the world, water batteries have been built to generate hydroelectricity and store renewable energy, covering an extensive demand for electricity, but they have not been integrated into cities. If carried out, it would solve the problems of renewable energy storage and make the reduction to zero CO2 emissions in cities.
​The water battery must connect rivers, lakes and natural and artificial, underground and surface waterfalls, and if it is near the coast it must include desalination plants that generate hydroelectricity, in our Series Against Climate Change, in the chapter "How to Create a Development Sustainable in Coastal Zones" we explain how to improve desalination plants in this way.
Various renewable energies must be generated that make up a backup system, so that the electricity supply does not fail due to weather events or natural disasters, we recommend underground connections of the supply of basic services. The various renewable energies that we consider viable are:
SOLAR
We recommend installing double-sided graphene solar panels in buildings and infrastructures, to generate energy by capturing solar rays and the albedo effect, so that they generate energy even in winter. And if possible microalgae solar panels. Solar energy corresponds to photovoltaic panels and thermal energy.
WIND POWER
In buildings and infrastructures that are harmless to birds. There are turbines that are easy to adapt to homes, buildings, public lighting,...
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HYDROELECTRICITY
The surface and underground cascades of the water networks of the water battery must generate hydroelectricity. The large and small pipelines must have hydroelectrics inside. Usually the distribution of water uses gravity which helps make hydroelectricity viable.
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BLUE ENERGY
Seawater and wastewater treatment systems can be used to run blue power plants, which generate blue energy. Even in the desalination process using capacitive deionization technology,
District energy for heating and cooling systems, we propose geodesic domes, similar to Amazon offices, so that mainly with microalgae and solar energy (photovoltaic and thermal) they generate hot and cold water, bioelectricity and microalgae-based biofuels, and that this supply is carried out underground so that it does not fail in any season of the year, and thermal comfort is generated through water fountains and misting systems arranged in the city and heating in winter, in order to reduce deaths due to heat or cold.
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In this way, public infrastructures and buildings will generate water and energy, stored in water networks of a water battery, they will function as interconnected water, energy and clean air circuits.
This abundance of renewable energies will make 100% green transport possible, the provision of fast charging stations in homes, buildings, public roads... Throughout the city and will allow the addition of kinetic energy to the renewable energy network, in energized highways and pedestrian roads that generate kinetic electricity, thus carriers would no longer pay to travel on highways, rather they will receive remuneration for the excess kinetic energy generated, just like pedestrians.
Public transport must be electric and/or electromagnetic, for long trips inside or outside the municipality it must be in electromagnetic bullet trains, inside vacuum tubes, that travel at a considerable height, so that in case of snowfall or flooding it is not interrupted his tour.
These trains are recommended for the loading of passengers and cargo, to connect cities with rural areas that produce food that is not produced in the city, so that the distribution and marketing of food is not interrupted, later we will explain its infrastructure of graphene and graphene crystal.
Rural areas must produce and process food in complexes of geodesic domes with microclimates to produce sustainable food on a large scale on a small piece of land, under any weather conditions, which, when connected to bullet trains and vacuum tubes, will allow it to be distributed with less number of intermediaries and therefore, field activities will have greater profitability for farmers, who will produce based on statistics and projections of supply, demand and demographic growth to efficiently plan their production
In the city, along the rivers and surface lakes of the water battery, vertical garden towers should be arranged. We design one suitable for generating air, water, and renewable energy, which can be used to produce food in large volumes or for planting different species of plants, grasses, and flowers, aimed at integrating nature into the city and for recovery. ecosystems or nearby eroded or desertified soils, will serve to clean up water reserves and provide spaces for bees, butterflies and birds to survive in cities and on their migratory routes.
The city will work with a circular economy approach, that is, without waste, everything will be reused. Solid waste management will be through recycling, from the point of view of an economic activity, industries will be created around the collection and processing of waste for the production of raw materials, citizens in their homes and companies will receive a payment for the collection and classification of material for recycling.
Those residues that are not reused, such as tires or other waste, will be destined to improved waste incineration plants, which will have hermetic chambers to produce graphene, the process basically consists of converting garbage into carbon and solidifying CO2, it will not leave ashes toxic and will not allow the escape of polluting gases, since these gases will be used to generate bioelectricity and to increase controls that avoid any atmospheric contamination, because they will have microalgae solution filters, which can be reused in this process, to produce biofertilizers and bio fuels.
INNOVATION OF MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES OF MODULAR CONSTRUCTION AND 3D AND 4D PRINTING
The materials we urge to develop are triangular pieces of graphene and graphene crystal. Through the improved process in the Ecological Waste Incineration Plants, graphene can be produced in bulk in industrial quantities, which will allow the construction of triangular meshes, its frame or structure will consist of an alloy of steel and graphene, which will contain glass photovoltaic panels. graphene and microalgae solutions.
The structures of the buildings (steel and graphene) of the models of the cities of the NGO Arca Tierra will be printed, which will consist mainly of geodesic domes and modular cylinders to take the shape of trees, their bases will be printed through printers 3D or 4D, the materials, forms and construction techniques will allow a rapid construction of houses, buildings, industries and infrastructures, resistant to any natural disaster.
We explain how to produce graphene crystal and the construction techniques in our course Systems to Purify Water, Air and Soils in Cities and Oceans
EDIFICIO ÁRBOL
Actualmente con los materiales disponibles en la actualidad y técnicas de construcción modular, impulsamos la construcción de edificios árbol para solventar la grave crisis de déficit de viviendas con integración social y económica favoreciendo a los sectores más vulnerables de la pobreza, a las mujeres y jóvenes LGBTIQ+ y huérfanos.
TREE BUILDING
Currently with the materials currently available and modular construction techniques, we promote the construction of tree buildings to solve the serious crisis of housing deficit with social and economic integration favoring the most vulnerable sectors of poverty, women and young LGBTIQ + and orphans.
TREE
GLOBE
GALAXY
MODELS OF SUSTAINABLE CITIES OF THE NGO ARCA TIERRA
Previously we explained how to achieve carbon neutral cities with air quality, abundant energy and water without any pollution, citizens will have quality of life, since the billing of these basic services will be very low, but the high demand for multiple uses, just as green mobility will make the economic activities of generating clean water and energy profitable.
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The new materials and the new modular construction techniques, assisted by 3D printers, will allow a rapid construction of new buildings and cities, to cover the housing deficit at a very low cost, so that the sustainable city will make it possible to achieve poverty and zero hunger.
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However, to guarantee the expansion of cities with the maximum use of the land and in an organized way that allows the continuous integration of nature and the disposition of human and environmental rights with equal opportunities for their inhabitants to exercise them and efficiently integrate the movements migrants to promote development and that the city has a continuous growth at the rate or more accelerated than the demographic growth, to be able to guarantee that the number of schools, universities, hospitals, houses, sources of employment…. Sufficient for the expansion of humanity with quality of life through sustainable development, urban planning must be oriented towards the consolidation of human and environmental rights. Reason why the NGO Arca Tierra proposes 3 Models of Cities: Tree, Globe and Galaxy.
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Tree City
The tree city consists of a central cylinder with 7 branches that can continue to grow, can be arranged vertically or horizontally and several cities can be connected, the rate of growth of its branches will be according to population growth. In order to provide greater stability to the structure, they may have roots, which will serve to provide space for more buildings inside these cylinders or for storage, parking, transport routes or shelter purposes.
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Globe City
It consists of a geodesic dome, its size can vary according to the available terrain or predictions of the possible expansion of the population, inside it can be arranged various buildings and nature, if it is large, cities, trees and vertical gardens can be integrated. This city model is also recommended for the provision of shelters for the entire population, according to their territorial division, to be enabled in the event of natural disasters. Its shape and materials will allow a high resistance to natural disasters and the creation of microclimates, ideal for areas where extreme climates occur.
Galaxy City
Galaxies can expand practically indefinitely, the Milky Way is about 13.6 billion years old. Our galaxy city model expands like regular spiral galaxies, from its center or nucleus, where government management activities will be located, and its 7 spiral arms extend, integrating bio-buildings (green-grey) and nature, it is ideal for underdeveloped rural areas, desertified areas so that as the city expands, ecosystems can be recovered, these can make the most of the land due to its spiral design and can integrate tree and globe cities.
These cities are designed based on 7 pillars, if you observe the tree city has 7 ramifications, the globe city would integrate these 7-branch tree buildings, or would be subdivided into 7 levels, and the galaxy city has 7 spiral arms, because the planning Urbana is based on a model of governmental organization, adaptable to a country or municipality of 7 bureaus, in each one of them the consolidation of certain human and environmental rights is contemplated, in this way the city will be divided into areas according to the activities to be carried out , to expedite the dynamics of exercising human and environmental rights and that they are within reach with equal opportunities for all its citizens. It is time that urban planning, architecture and construction engineering be considered CRUCIAL for the provision of human and environmental rights, they are closely related to the organization and administration of a country or municipality so that citizens can exercise these rights as benefits and duties to fulfill in a participatory democracy, to achieve sustainable development.
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The numbers go to 7654321, because they work in a circular way, like a cycle of action, a clock of interrelated activities that go from a beginning to an end and that begins again, where pillar number 5 of quality is extremely important because it will be in charge of to ensure continuous improvement and that all activities make the transition towards sustainability. In our free book and online course Organization and Models of Sustainable Cities is explained.
