Ecopolis Now by Fred Pearce in the magazine NewScientist Forget the rural idyll. Urban living may be the hut way to save
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2022 2:19 pm
Ecopolis Now
by Fred Pearce in the magazine NewScientist
Forget the rural idyll. Urban living may be the hutway to save the planet.
A hundred years ago, the largest city inthe world was London, with a population of 6.5 million. Today it isdwarfed by Tokyo. With barely a quarter the population of Londona century ago, the Tokyo metropolitan area has sincemushroomed to 34 million, propelling it to first place in theglobal city league table. Tokyo's phenomenal growth is largely dueto a single factor: migration from the countryside to the city. Itis just one of many to have overtaken London, which with apopulation of 7.5 million today doesn't even make the top 20.
This rural-to-urban migration can now be seen in scores ofcities around the globe. And it has brought us to a pivotal momentin human history. In 1900, most people lived in thecountryside, with a little over 10 percent of the world'spopulation living in cities. From next year, the UN PopulationDivision predicts that for the first time in history, more peoplewill live in cities than in the country, and the biggest growthwill be in " megacities," with populations over 10 million.
The meteoric growth of megacities - there are now 20in total-has brought with it huge environmental and socialproblems. Cities occupy just two percent of the land surface of theEarth but consume three-quarters of the resources that are used upeach year, expelling the half-digested remains in clouds ofgreenhouse gases, billions of tons of solid waste, andrivers of toxic sewage. Their inhabitants are making ruinousdemands on soils and water supplies for food and on forests fortimber and paper.
Returning the world's population to the countryside is not anoption. Dividing up the planet into plots of land on which we couldall survive self-sufficiently would create its own naturaldisasters, to mention being highly unlikely to ever happen. Ifwe are to protect what is left of nature, and meet the demand toimprove the quality of living for the world's developing nations, anew form of city living is the only option. The size of a citycreates economies of scale for things such as energy generation,recycling, and public transport. It should even be possible forcities to partly feed themselves. Far from being parasites in theworld, cities could hold the key to sustainable living for theworld's booming population-if they are built right.
Fortunately, governments, planners, architects, and engineersare beginning to wake up to this idea, and are dreaming up ways togreen the megacities. Their approaches rely on two main principles:recycle whenever possible and remove as many cars as possible. Soas well as developing energy-efficient buildings, emphasis is beingplaced on increasing the use of public transport and redesigninghow cities are organized to integrate work and living areas into asingle neighborhood, rather than separating cities intoresidential, commercial, and industrial zones.
The big ideas are still being defined,but many cities already have showcased' eco projects. For example,at the new home of Melbourne city council in Australia, hanginggardens and water fountains cool the air, wind 10 turbines andsolar cells generate up to 85 percent of the electricity used inthe building, and rooftop ram Acer collectors supply 70 percent ofits water needs. In Berlin, Germany's new Reichstag parliamentbuilding cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 94 percent byrelying on carbon-neutral vegetable oil as its energy source. InSan Diego, California, garbage trucks run on methane extracted fromthe landfills they deliver to. In Austria, 1500 freebicycles have been distributed across Vienna. Reykjavik in Icelandis among the pioneers of hydrogen-powered public transport, andShanghai is subsidizing the installation of 100.000 rooftop solarpanels.
The Chinese city is also about toput many of these ideas to the test by creating the firstpurpose-built eco-city from scratch. Planners and architectsnow agree that to improve the social andenvironmental condition of cities the top priority is to cutcar use. They say zero-emission cars running on electricity orburning hydrogen are not enough. "Automobiles still require massivenetworks of streets, freeways, and parking structures to servecongested cities and far flung suburbs," says Richard Register,founder of the non-profit campaigning organization EcoCity Buildersin Oakland, California.
What is needed is a wholesale rethink of how new cities are laidout and how existing ones expand to minimize the need for cars inthe first place. One way of achieving this is to build cities withmultiple centers where people live close to their work in high-riseblocks that are also near public transport hubs. ln parts of theworld this is already taking shape.
While planners look at how to cut backthe energy consumption of big cities, on the other
end of the scale is shanty towns-organically evolved andself-built by millions of people in the developing worldwithout a planner in sight. These shanties meet many of the idealsof eco-city designers. They are high-density but low-rise;their lanes and alleys are largely pedestrianized; and many oftheir inhabitants recycle waste materials from the wider city. Froma purely ecological perspective, shanties and their inhabitants area good example of the new, green urban metabolism'. Despite theirsanitary and security failings, they often have a social vibrancyand sound ecological status that gets lost in most planned urbanenvironments.
So perhaps something can be taken from the chaos anddecentralized spontaneity embodied in shanties, and combined withthe planned infrastructure of a designed eco-city. Cities builtwithout extensive high rises can still be dense enough to makelife without a car profitable, and they can retain the economies ofscale needed for the new metabolism built around efficientrecycling of everything from sewage to sandwich wrappers. Atthe same time, they need to remain flexible enough for people toadapt to the way they want to live.
Write a multi-paragraph response (in essay format:introduction, body, conclusion) to the above article.
by Fred Pearce in the magazine NewScientist
Forget the rural idyll. Urban living may be the hutway to save the planet.
A hundred years ago, the largest city inthe world was London, with a population of 6.5 million. Today it isdwarfed by Tokyo. With barely a quarter the population of Londona century ago, the Tokyo metropolitan area has sincemushroomed to 34 million, propelling it to first place in theglobal city league table. Tokyo's phenomenal growth is largely dueto a single factor: migration from the countryside to the city. Itis just one of many to have overtaken London, which with apopulation of 7.5 million today doesn't even make the top 20.
This rural-to-urban migration can now be seen in scores ofcities around the globe. And it has brought us to a pivotal momentin human history. In 1900, most people lived in thecountryside, with a little over 10 percent of the world'spopulation living in cities. From next year, the UN PopulationDivision predicts that for the first time in history, more peoplewill live in cities than in the country, and the biggest growthwill be in " megacities," with populations over 10 million.
The meteoric growth of megacities - there are now 20in total-has brought with it huge environmental and socialproblems. Cities occupy just two percent of the land surface of theEarth but consume three-quarters of the resources that are used upeach year, expelling the half-digested remains in clouds ofgreenhouse gases, billions of tons of solid waste, andrivers of toxic sewage. Their inhabitants are making ruinousdemands on soils and water supplies for food and on forests fortimber and paper.
Returning the world's population to the countryside is not anoption. Dividing up the planet into plots of land on which we couldall survive self-sufficiently would create its own naturaldisasters, to mention being highly unlikely to ever happen. Ifwe are to protect what is left of nature, and meet the demand toimprove the quality of living for the world's developing nations, anew form of city living is the only option. The size of a citycreates economies of scale for things such as energy generation,recycling, and public transport. It should even be possible forcities to partly feed themselves. Far from being parasites in theworld, cities could hold the key to sustainable living for theworld's booming population-if they are built right.
Fortunately, governments, planners, architects, and engineersare beginning to wake up to this idea, and are dreaming up ways togreen the megacities. Their approaches rely on two main principles:recycle whenever possible and remove as many cars as possible. Soas well as developing energy-efficient buildings, emphasis is beingplaced on increasing the use of public transport and redesigninghow cities are organized to integrate work and living areas into asingle neighborhood, rather than separating cities intoresidential, commercial, and industrial zones.
The big ideas are still being defined,but many cities already have showcased' eco projects. For example,at the new home of Melbourne city council in Australia, hanginggardens and water fountains cool the air, wind 10 turbines andsolar cells generate up to 85 percent of the electricity used inthe building, and rooftop ram Acer collectors supply 70 percent ofits water needs. In Berlin, Germany's new Reichstag parliamentbuilding cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 94 percent byrelying on carbon-neutral vegetable oil as its energy source. InSan Diego, California, garbage trucks run on methane extracted fromthe landfills they deliver to. In Austria, 1500 freebicycles have been distributed across Vienna. Reykjavik in Icelandis among the pioneers of hydrogen-powered public transport, andShanghai is subsidizing the installation of 100.000 rooftop solarpanels.
The Chinese city is also about toput many of these ideas to the test by creating the firstpurpose-built eco-city from scratch. Planners and architectsnow agree that to improve the social andenvironmental condition of cities the top priority is to cutcar use. They say zero-emission cars running on electricity orburning hydrogen are not enough. "Automobiles still require massivenetworks of streets, freeways, and parking structures to servecongested cities and far flung suburbs," says Richard Register,founder of the non-profit campaigning organization EcoCity Buildersin Oakland, California.
What is needed is a wholesale rethink of how new cities are laidout and how existing ones expand to minimize the need for cars inthe first place. One way of achieving this is to build cities withmultiple centers where people live close to their work in high-riseblocks that are also near public transport hubs. ln parts of theworld this is already taking shape.
While planners look at how to cut backthe energy consumption of big cities, on the other
end of the scale is shanty towns-organically evolved andself-built by millions of people in the developing worldwithout a planner in sight. These shanties meet many of the idealsof eco-city designers. They are high-density but low-rise;their lanes and alleys are largely pedestrianized; and many oftheir inhabitants recycle waste materials from the wider city. Froma purely ecological perspective, shanties and their inhabitants area good example of the new, green urban metabolism'. Despite theirsanitary and security failings, they often have a social vibrancyand sound ecological status that gets lost in most planned urbanenvironments.
So perhaps something can be taken from the chaos anddecentralized spontaneity embodied in shanties, and combined withthe planned infrastructure of a designed eco-city. Cities builtwithout extensive high rises can still be dense enough to makelife without a car profitable, and they can retain the economies ofscale needed for the new metabolism built around efficientrecycling of everything from sewage to sandwich wrappers. Atthe same time, they need to remain flexible enough for people toadapt to the way they want to live.
Write a multi-paragraph response (in essay format:introduction, body, conclusion) to the above article.