Voukkali Irene, Papamichael Iliana, Loizia Pantelitsa, Zorpas Antonis A
Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Open University of Cyprus, Giannou Kranidioti 89, 2231, Latsia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2024 Mar;31(12):17678-17689. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-27670-2. Epub 2023 Jun 4.
The increasing urban population and the restructuring of urban economies are the main aspects that determine urban development in the twenty-first century. Rapid urbanization is among the most significant anthropogenic factors that impact ecosystems and sustainability. Urbanization is a "double-edged sword." Even though it contributes to economic prosperity and social development, at the same time, it poses severe challenges to the natural environment and social system. The scientific community emphasizes the need to investigate the relationship between cities and the environment to comprehend their dynamic interactions related with problems such as climate change, consumption of natural resources, and life quality degradation. Population growth and urbanization are central considerations of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 11, dealing with making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. Moreover, the new circular economy model is receiving increasing attention globally as a solution to the current production and consumption model, which is based on constant growth and increasing resource input. The objective of this paper was to identify the major challenges occurred due to the rapid urbanization in a coastal city though a qualitative and quantitative waste compositional analysis. The ultimate goal is to propose the waste compositional analysis as a new indicator in the literature for determination of the degree of metabolism in an island region. According to the compositional analysis, the higher the population density in a region, the greater the volume of garbage produced and, consequently, the infrastructure necessary for waste management. Also, the increased seasonal tourist activity leads to an increase in the number of tourist accommodations and services. The results provided may also be applicable in other cities with similar characteristics related with tourism habits and the challenges they may face as a result of the waste production.
城市人口的增长和城市经济的结构调整是决定21世纪城市发展的主要方面。快速城市化是影响生态系统和可持续性的最重要的人为因素之一。城市化是一把“双刃剑”。尽管它有助于经济繁荣和社会发展，但同时也给自然环境和社会系统带来了严峻挑战。科学界强调需要研究城市与环境之间的关系，以理解它们与气候变化、自然资源消耗和生活质量下降等问题相关的动态相互作用。人口增长和城市化是联合国可持续发展目标2030议程的核心考量因素，特别是涉及使城市具有包容性、安全性、韧性和可持续性的可持续发展目标11。此外，作为对当前基于持续增长和不断增加资源投入的生产和消费模式的一种解决方案，新的循环经济模式在全球受到越来越多的关注。本文的目的是通过定性和定量的垃圾成分分析，确定一个沿海城市快速城市化所带来的主要挑战。最终目标是在文献中提出垃圾成分分析作为一种新指标，用于确定岛屿地区的新陈代谢程度。根据成分分析，一个地区的人口密度越高，产生的垃圾量就越大，因此垃圾管理所需的基础设施也就越多。此外，季节性旅游活动的增加导致旅游住宿和服务数量的增加。所提供的结果也可能适用于其他具有类似旅游习惯以及因垃圾产生而可能面临类似挑战的城市。
