The Ideology of Sustainable Cities

This article focuses on the concept, characteristics, theoretical research, and international mainstream urban models of sustainable cities. Sustainability city refers to a city that is able to provide sustainable well-being for its inhabitants without reducing urban ecosystem services under certain socio-economic conditions. The theoretical study of sustainable cities has a wide range of perspectives covering all aspects of social development. It deals primarily with the physical composition of cities and the more abstract environmental, economic, social, cultural, political systems, and social equity aspects, and is characterised by efficient public transport systems, the use of renewable energy sources, sustainable buildings, and an overall commitment to reducing carbon emissions. Factors involved in sustainable urban forms such as new urban spatial forms, urban-rural relationships, scale and density, transport principles and land use patterns are explored. The validity of the compact city theory is proved or disproved from different perspectives, and the negative impacts of compact urban form, including the impact of high-density buildings on the ecosystem services of urban green spaces and urban biodiversity. In the context of rapid urban change and globalisation, the construction of sustainable cities is bound to face more challenges and opportunities. These studies have greatly enriched the connotation of sustainable cities and laid a theoretical foundation for the practice of building sustainable cities.