SUSTAINABLE CITY - FREIBURG

• LOCATION - SOUTH WEST GERMANY
• IN 1970, FREIBURG SET A GOAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABILITY
• OFTEN CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST SUSTAINABLE CITIES IN THE WORLD
• POPULATION - 205,000
• FOUNDED 900 YEARS AGO
• SOCIAL SUSTAINABLILITY

  • FOCUS ON PROVIDING PEOPLE WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING
  • LOCAL PEOPLE ARE INVOLOVED IN URBAN PLANNING AT LOCAL AND CITY LEVEL
• ECONOMICALLY SUSTAINABLE

  • FINANCIAL REWARDS ARE GIVEN TO PEOPLE WHO COMPOST THEIR GREEN WASTE AND USE TEXTIILE NAPPIES
  • MANY JOBS HAVE BEEN CREATED IN THE RESEARCH AND MANUFACTUR OF SOLAR TECHNOLOGY
  • MORE THAN 10,000 PEOPLE ARE EMPLOYED IN 1500 ENVIRONMENTAL BUSINESSES IN THE CITY
  • THE CITY IS A POPULAR PLACE FOR PEOPLE TO ATTEND CONFERENCES ON SUSTAINABILITY. THIS PROVIDES JOBS FOR THE LOCAL PEOPLE
• ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

  • FREIBURG USES BIOGAS TO PEOVIDE NERGY FO 28,000 HOMES - BIOGAS IS PRODUCED FROM ORGANIC WASTE
  • MORE THAN 88% OF PACKAGING IS RECYCLED
  • RAINWATER IS RETAINED AND REUSED
  • LOCAL PEOPLE OFTEN INVEST IN RENEWABLE ENERGY
  • SITES FOR BUILDING ARE COSIDERED BY THE LOCAL COUNCIL AND INTEREST GROUPS
  • PLANS TO HAVE 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY BY 2050
  • 44,000 TREES HAVE BEEN PLANTED IN PARKS AND STREETS TO PROVIDE MORE GREEN SPACE AND REDUCE POLLUTION
  • REDUCED ANNUAL WASTE DISPOSAL FROM 140,000 TONNES TO 50,000 TONNES A YEAR
  • SOLAR POWER IS COMMONLY USED AS FREIBURG IS SUNNY
• TRAFFIC SUSTAINABILITY

  • THE CITY HAS INTEGRATED PUBLIC TRANSPORT STRATEGY ( ITS ) WHICH IS UPDATED EVERY TEN YEARS
  • THE TRAM NETWORK IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE ITS - IT PROVIDES CHEAP AND ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TRANSPORT
  • CYCLE AND WALKING PATHS ENCOURAGE EXERCISE AND HEALTHY LIVING, WHILST REDUCING CARBO EMISSIONS
  • THERE ARE 400KM OF CYCLE PATHS WITH 9000 PARKING SPACES FOR NIKES, INCLUDING 'BIKE AND RIDE' FACILITIES AT RAILWAY AND BUS STATIONS
  • AREAS OF THE CITY HAVE RESTRICTIONS ON CAR PARKING SPACES - A CAR PARK SPACE IN VUABAN DISTRICT COSTS £20,000 EACH YEAR
• 1/3 OF ALL JOURNEYS ARE BICYCLE
• IN VAUBAN, IF RESIDENTS SIGN A CONTRACT SAYING THEY WILL LIVE WITHOUT A CAR, THE COST OF THEIR HOUSE IS REDUCED AS THEY HAVE NO NEED TO BUY A PARKING SPACE
• (the speed limit is three miles an hour), give priority to people not in cars, and stop only temporarily for pickup or drop-off. The street doesn’t have parking places.
• DUE TO NEW TRAM LINES OPENEING, MOTOR VEHICLE USE FELL FROM 38% TO 32% BETWEEN 1982 AND 1999, CONTRASTING THE TREND IN ALMOST EVERY CENTRAL EUROPEAN CITIES
• RECYCLING - 4 SEPERATE HOUSEHOLD CONTAINERS, INCLUDING A BIN FOR KITCHEN AND GARDEN WASTE, WHICH ARE COMPOSTED

  AS A RESULT FREIBURG REDUCED ITS WASTE DISPOSAL FROM 140,000 TONNES A YEAR IN 1988, TO 50,000 TONNES A YEAR IN 2000.

  42% OF ITS SURROUNDING AREA IS UNDER NATURE OR COUNTRYSIDE PROTECTION, WHERE BUILDING IS NO LONGER PERMITTED
• IN 1986, WITH THE NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE AT CHERNOBYL, FREIBURGS MUNICIPAL COUNCIL VOTED TO MAKE A CHANGE TO ENERGY, INSTEAD OF USING NUCLEAR, THEY WOULD USE SOLAR, LEADING FREIBURG TO BECOME EUROPES FIRST SOLAR CITY
• SOLAR MADULE PRODUCTION PLANT DEVELOPED IN FREIBURG, 1997, EMPLOYING 130 PEOPLE. THE ENTIRE FACTORY WAS ZERO EMISSION, BEING POWERED BY A RAPE-SEED OIL FIRED GENERATOR.
• ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF FREINURG IS VAUBAN, A ECOLOGICALLY DEGINED SETTLEMENT OF 2000 HOUSES BEING BUILT ON THE SITE OF AN ABANDONED FRENCH MILITARY BASE- A BROWNFIELD SITE
• THERE ARE 1000+ BICYLES AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL RESIDENTS TO USE, SO THAT EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR OWN BICYCLE, YOU CAN GET ONE ANYTIME YOU LIKE