Urbanization: An Initiative To Green Buildings

Naiya Patel, United World School of Law, Karnavati University

ABSTRACT

According to data from the World Bank, the global population increased by 1.1% between 2019 and 2020, with the total population exceeding 7.8 billion as of 2020. This dramatic growth has been driven largely by increasing urbanization and large-scale migration. Urbanization is the process through which cities grow, and higher and higher percentages of the population comes to live in the city. There are a number of reasons why people migrate towards urban areas such as economic development because of the proximity to jobs, higher quality of education, safety levels, entertainment and lifestyle options, infrastructure and medical facilities. Due to such rapid urbanization, there are various negative impacts pertaining to the environment like loss of bio diversity, Air Pollution, Water Pollution, increase of greenhouse gas, insufficient waste management, loss of green space and etc. In such negative impacts of Urbanization, the construction sector contributes to 23% of air pollution, 40% of drinking water pollution, and 50% of landfill wastes. According to the World Watch Institute, the industry consumes 40% of the world’s usage in raw stones, gravel and sand and 25% of its virgin wood per year. One of the most significant ways green buildings can impact urbanization is through reducing the environmental impact of buildings. Several names, such as sustainable building, high-performance building, amongst several others, have been used to describe green building interchangeably. Hence to conserve the environment and to reduce the impact of construction in environment an initiative of constructing Green Buildings is instituted.

Keywords: Urbanization, Population, Environment, Green building, sustainable building