Greetings urban dwellers! This is the final post on metropollution and I thank everyone who has stuck around all through the weeks with me as I unfolded the multiplicities of urban pollution. As a recap, I have covered air pollution, land pollution, light pollution, noise pollution and visual pollution. However, it must be acknowledged that these are not the only types of pollution in our city as the list is not exhaustive.

Under most environmental studies, we must always react to change and ensure that the environment that mankind is inhabiting, has sufficient adaptive capacity such that the city does not become overwhelmed by urban pollution. There are many frameworks that can be used to investigate urban pollution. For starters, one way is using the Drivers-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework. It can be used to assess and manage environmental problems through a systematic approach by looking the various stakeholders and processes related to the environmental issue. For instance, in one of my early posts on urban revenge, the DPSIR framework can be used to analyse the entire root of issue and methods that were implemented to determine get a better grasp of the situation.

DPSIR framework (https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/92-9167-059-6-sum/page002.html)

Another possible framework will be the social doughnut concept. This idea emphasises on the planetary boundaries which is visualised as two concentric circles: social foundation, which contributes to the basic foundation of social needs; and the ecological ceiling, when exceeded, can result in environmental concerns such as climate change. This can be used by policy makers and state planners to determine the existing position where the city is at and which aspect of social needs can be better improved on, depending on the amount of planetary boundaries that are overshot.

Social Doughnut Concept (https://www.pv-magazine.com/magazine-archive/doughnuts-are-the-new-green/)

All in all, we must realise that pollution is inherently undesirable. With economic pursuits and endeavours in the 21st century, it is close to impossible to attain pollution-free cities. Furthermore, with the interconnectedness of the pollutive natures in the various urban pollution, some forms of pollution can give rise to another pollution such as the case for light pollution which can result in visual pollution as well. With all these complexities factored into metropollution, it is definitely alarming and a call for concern as this directly affects our living environment. I posit that the reductionist thinking can be significant in addressing urban pollution, but it must be coupled with systems thinking which stems from complex adapting systems (CAS). Through individuals to states to transboundary organisations, there is more that we can do.

You Live in Urban, You Fight for Urban.

Your metropollution warrior,

BriChua

References:

Foster Complex Adaptive Systems thinking. Applying resilience thinking Foster complex adaptive systems thinking Comments. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://applyingresilience.org/en/principle-4/

Steffen, W., Richardson, K., Rockström, J., Cornell, S. E., Fetzer, I., Bennett, E. M., Biggs, R., Carpenter, S. R., de Vries, W., de Wit, C. A., Folke, C., Gerten, D., Heinke, J., Mace, G. M., Persson, L. M., Ramanathan, V., Reyers, B., & Sörlin, S. (2015). Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet. Science, 347(6223). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1259855

Song, X., & Frostell, B. (2012). The DPSIR framework and a pressure-oriented water quality monitoring approach to Ecological River Restoration. Water, 4(3), 670–682. https://doi.org/10.3390/w4030670