Eco city is an ideal habitat where nature & technology merge, human creativity & productivity reaches a maximum level, residents’ health & environmental quality are well protected & energy, materials, and information are efficiently used.
Eco city concept has its roots in the ecological planning approach detailed by Ian Mc Harg, a landscape architect in 1969, in his book ‘Design with Nature’.
Richard Register, introduced the term Eco City in 1987 in his book, Eco City Berkeley: Building Cities for A Healthy Future.
The characteristics of eco cities are:
1. Health And Harmony:
In order to provide enough and consistent ecosystem services in an eco city the human support system is healthy and sustainable.
2. High efficiency and vigor:
The high consumption, high emission, high pollution and low productivity developmental modes are altered into more environmentally friendly modes in an eco city.
3. Low Carbon Orientation:
Looking at the climate change the cities are facing this is the need of the hour. Emphasis should be laid on high productivity with minimized use of natural resources.
4. Sustaining Prosperity:
Current development should not put at risk the development of the next generation.
5. High Ecological Civilization:
In an eco city, the concept of ecological civilization is displayed in and permeates all fields, including industrial production, human day to day activities, education, community construction and societal fashion.
6. Holism:
Eco cities lay emphasis on the holistic development integrating social, economic and environmental factors.
7. Regionality:
Each city is different with respect to its geographical characteristics and thus each city has a different urban development scenario.