Cities for a small planet by Richard Rogers

How can we be better citizens? Simply, we can use the resources given to us wiser. Almost everything on the earth is a renewable resource, but there is a time attached to each. Therefore, there has to be a balance of resources.

The earth that we live in is basically a closed system. The main thing that comes in is sunlight. The sun is responsible for a majority of the energy that we have. It provides energy in the form of heat that also produces winds and currents. Its energy is absorbed by plants and is either turned into fossil fuels or eaten by animals. We eat those plants and animals and use the fossil fuels for power.

According to the UN in 2010, the world population will be at 6.84 billion. That is hard for me to relate to. I can’t even fathom that many people. Population rates are growing quite fast especially in developing countries. Technology and medicine are getting better (reducing the death rate) while families have more children who can help with their jobs. Population is growing the fastest in cities.

Cities in the past were viewed as dangerous places to live. The city was where the factories, pollution, and noise were. But they also offered the most opportunity for the underprivileged. “It has been estimated that 30 to 60 per cent of the residents of most large cities in developing countries live in ‘informal settlements’ or shanty towns.” They don’t have access to many things that we take for granted – trash collection, clean water, sewage treatment.

Compared to the 10% of the world’s population that lived in cities in the 1900s, now more than 50% of the population does and it is projected to rise to 75% by 2050. Careful planning of cities (especially in poor countries) is crucial for the wellbeing of all. If they do not have the resources to properly dispose of waste or to get clean water, it affects everyone. Everything has an effect on something else in the system. The world is like a body and we are its cells.

One of the best examples of a well planned city is Curitiba, Brazil. By the way the design of the bus stop is very nice.

Success

There needs to be a change in how we view success. Money is ingrained in every aspect of our lives but it does not have to be the determining factor. Why do we use Gross Domestic Product as a scale when it includes activities that reduce quality of life (e.g. Welfare and Environmental Cleanup Costs) with Consumer Expenditure?

Instead we should use the Index of Sustainable Economic Wealth that subtracts those negative factors. It gives a more reliable standard of how countries are performing.

The Importance of Architecture

“The emphasis is now on selfishness and separation rather than contact and community.”

Buildings perform multiple functions through tasks and figuratively. They are the background of our every day happenings: “Architecture is the art form to which we are continually exposed. It enhances or hinders our lives because it creates the environment in which all our everyday experiences take place, be they commonplace or seminal.”

Therefore, encouraging architects to not think in conventional ways is a great way to inspire citizens. It can even be a very indirect way of reducing crime. And its citizens maintain the quality and success of a city.

Holding competitions for the design government buildings and public spaces where citizens can vote. We have so much technology is at our disposal.

A great example of thinking differently is the Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban. He designs entire buildings with cardboard tubing!

Transportation

“Participation, education and innovation are the driving forces of the sustainable society.”

Cars are producing the “largest amount of air pollution” not industry. In 1997 there were about 500 million cars and by 2010 there are expected to be 750 million cars. Many cities are not planned with public transport in mind and it is almost necessary to own a car.

Excluding damage to the environment and the social costs, the “economic cost of traffic congestion, in terms of squandered energy and lost time, is about $150 billion per year.

A study done in San Francisco shows that with increased traffic there is less social interaction between neighbors. Think how this affects what values children are taught. It encourages thinking more for oneself. I think a community is very important for citizens. It seems to me that the closer the individuals in a community are to each other, the less crime there will be and the better the quality of life.

Using public transport makes the air quality better and this encourages opening windows instead of using air-conditioners.

Do you like to bike? Ever heard of Critical Mass?

Other Suggestions

Properly planning a city can “increase energy efficiency, consume fewer resources, produce less pollution and avoid sprawling over the countryside.”

Cities must be diverse and not zoned by function [business, residential, public]. Mixed-use buildings are much better because they cut down on travel time; thereby cutting down pollution from cars; thereby cutting down wasting energy. Single-function buildings are good only for short-term profit and not for the social and environmental benefits.

Vegetation provides shade, dampens noise, filters pollution and absorbs rain. Varying the heights of buildings allows light to enliven areas and reduces the need for energy for artificial lighting.

New ways to deal with waste are a must: “Experimental sewerage treatment schemes that discharge their waste below industrial forestry have been shown both to increase the growth rate of the forest, woods and parks and to restock local aquifers with purified water.”

Use Combined Heat and Power plants (CHPs) – see my SYSAV post from September.

Ants

“They are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies for wars, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse their enemies, capture slaves ... The exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.” - Lewis Thomas

Crazy huh?