Sustainable cities, urban sustainability, or eco-city is a city designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact [1], and resilient habitat for existing populations, without compromising the ability of future generations to experience the same. These cities are inhabited by people whom are dedicated towards minimization of required inputs of energy, water, food, waste, output of heat, air pollution - CO2, methane, and water pollution. Richard Register first coined the term ecocity in his 1987 book, Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future. Other leading figures who envisioned the sustainable city are architect Paul F Downton, who later founded the company Ecopolis Pty Ltd, as well as authors Timothy Beatley and Steffen Lehmann, who have written extensively on the subject. The field of industrial ecology is sometimes used in planning these cities. There remains no completely agreed upon definition for what a sustainable city should be or completely agreed upon paradigm for what components should be included. Generally, developmental experts agree that a sustainable city should meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The ambiguity within this idea leads to a great deal of variation in terms of how cities carry out their attempts to become sustainable. Ideally, a sustainable city creates an enduring way of life across the four domains of ecology, economics, politics and culture. However, minimally a sustainable city should firstly be able to feed itself with a sustainable reliance on the surrounding countryside. Secondly, it should be able to power itself with renewable sources of energy. The core of this is to create the smallest conceivable ecological footprint, while producing the lowest quantity of pollution achievable. All while efficiently using the land; composting used materials, and recycling or converting waste-to-energy. All of these contributions will lead to the city's overall impacts on climate change to be minimal and with as little impact. The Adelaide City Council states that socially sustainable cities should be equitable, diverse, connected, and democratic and provide a good quality of life. A sustainable city can feed itself with minimal reliance on the surrounding countryside, and power itself with renewable sources of energy. The crux of this is to create the smallest possible ecological footprint, and to produce the lowest quantity of pollution possible, to efficiently use land; compost used materials, recycle it or convert waste-to-energy, and thus the city's overall contribution to climate change will be minimal, if such practices are adhered to. It is estimated that over 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities and urban areas. These large communities provide both challenges and opportunities for environmentally-conscious developers. There are distinct advantages to further defining and working towards the goals of sustainable cities. Humans are social creatures and thrive in urban spaces that foster social connections. Richard Florida, an urban studies theorist, focuses on the social impact of sustainable cities and states that cities need to be more than a competitive business climate; they need to be a great people climate that appeals to individuals and families of all types. Because of this, a shift to more dense, urban living would provide an outlet for social interaction and conditions under which humans can prosper. These types of urban areas would also promote the use of public transit, walkability and biking which would benefit citizens health wise but also be environmentally beneficial. Contrary to common belief, urban systems can be more environmentally sustainable than rural or suburban living. With people and resource located so close to one another it is possible to save energy for transportation and mass transit systems, and resources such as food. Cities benefit the economy by locating human capital in one relatively small geographic area where ideas can be generated. Having a more dense, urban space would also increase people's efficiency since they wouldn't have to spend as much time commuting to places if resources are located close together, which in turn would benefit the economy since people can use this extra time on other matters; like work.
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