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Sky High Prophets
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by Caoimhin1 | July 3, 2008 at 05:42 am
545 views | 58 Recommendations | 24 comments
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It is estimated that 80% of the world's population will live in urban areas by the year 2020, another prediction has the population of the planet approaching 10 billion, a 150% increase over today's numbers, by the year 2050. Today, we can all see that the unsustainable use of critical resources, ie. water, food, and energy, can no longer be taken for granted and that we will need changes in our behaviour, thinking, and practices to enable future generations some chance of survival.
Change will also be needed in the way we build and inhabit the cities of the future. Food, clothing and shelter (the big three), employment, services and entertainment must be readily available and within easy reach of the future city citizen. The success of these futuristic cities will be measured by the voluntary abandonment of the automobile, the efficient use of resources, waste management, and co-operation between the crowded individual and the needs of the masses.
William McDonough designed the first solar powered house in Ireland in 1977 and was named Time magazines "Hero of the Planet" in 1999 for his ecological design concepts. With three decades of imaginative thinking, creative architecture, and re-inventing the box (never mind thinking outside of it) behind him, McDonough's team has recently come up with a "living" structure that will, according to them, do everything but replicate itself. A mixed use building, the "Tower of Tomorrow" uses bio-mimicry, in that it will create oxygen, distill water, produce energy, change with the seasons and provide shelter for housing, work and entertainment!
Norman Foster, another architect, and his company Foster & Partners, are the creative geniuses behind the 6 million square metre walled city of Masdar, to be built in Abu Dhabi, that is a carbon neutral, zero waste, and an automobile free community. Foster and McDonough both unveiled their projects at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. This monumental event was shunned by the Irish government. Why is that?
Dickson Despommier a microbiologist from Columbia University is ploughing ahead with his ideas of vertical farming. In these cities of the future there will need to exist an easily accessible supply of food. The Vertical Farm Project plans to do just that by building high rise gardens of Eden for the city dwellers to "grow locally" all their dietary needs. A firm in the Netherlands, MVRDV, has envisioned a Pig City in the sky; but, if raising chickens for food in confined factories is causing a lot of drama at the moment I can't imagine that pigs using elevators is going to catch on. Maybe there is less meat in our future? Things are looking up!
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (24)
at 08:22 on July 3rd, 2008
Caoimhin1, very interesting perspective on the future. I love the pig in the sky photo.
at 08:26 on July 3rd, 2008
Thank you for reading and flagging the story lcherry! "Babe" is checking out a city of the future! ;)
at 08:50 on July 3rd, 2008
Caoimhin1, I like this story. It's good stuff.
I can remember reading a story a couple of years ago about some newer office towers in Boston that in part rely on heat from occupants to heat the building. There's also a building in downtown Toronto that uses the water from Lake Ontario to cool the building in the summer.
I think the concept of urban gardens is interesting but I wonder if you don't need more commerical applications of this. I've read about plans to reclaim old factory buildings in New York and other cities to grow produce locally.
at 08:53 on July 3rd, 2008
Thanks kferaday! As the declining resources start drastically affecting our wallets there will be all kinds of solutions put forward! Interesting times ahead!
at 08:58 on July 3rd, 2008
My own attempts at fire-escape gardening were tragic, but at the time I envisioned every rooftop in the city as a micro-garden, supplying residents with succulent tomatoes and fragrant spices? Utopian? Guilty as charged. The squirrels ate my lone tomato, by the way, but the vision persists!
I wonder how many rooftop gardens you'd need to have an effect on air quality.
at 09:01 on July 3rd, 2008
Thanks a million Jordan! Can you imagine how many additional acres of gardening could be added to the produce supply if all the flat roofs in the cities were cultivated?
at 08:58 on July 3rd, 2008
Good post. I've heard the idea of generating power from the heat emitted by big cities. Anyone know anything about that?
at 09:04 on July 3rd, 2008
Thanks for the flag Julian! Heat recovery systems are becoming more and more popular alternatives to save heating costs for buildings!
at 11:38 on July 3rd, 2008
Caoimhin1, I like this story. It's good stuff.
I hope these green projects leave the paper and become real soon.
at 11:41 on July 3rd, 2008
Caoimhin1, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Those numbers scare me...
at 12:31 on July 3rd, 2008
Altrugon and Amy, thank you both!
at 13:07 on July 3rd, 2008
Heat from cities: I vaguely remember a project (a railway or was it the trains) was going to have its collected and used in nearby office buildings. But Im terrible at names: Stockholm? France somewhere? Timbuktu?
PS: I'm joking about Timbuktu. Anyway, it's a terrible place to get to.
at 13:52 on July 3rd, 2008
Thanks for the visit Gerry!
at 13:35 on July 3rd, 2008
Very interesting post, Caoimhin1. It would be great if these futuristic cities learn lessons from the mistakes made in the past. But if we build new cities, what about the cities we have now? It's really important for these places to be livable and sustainable too.
I've just returned from Bangkok, which, while vibrant and exciting, was an eye-opening experience from an environmental point of view. Choked by smog and fumes, traffic jams late into the night, apartments with one, if not two, air conditioning units. (Though it does have a fast and efficient Skytrain system that reaches parts of the city.)
I'm sure there are multiple Bangkoks in the developing world: cities growing too fast and haphazardly to keep up with themselves. So what can be done to address this?
at 13:50 on July 3rd, 2008
Thank you for reading this piece Rachel! I would imagine that re-building a current city would have to be a slow process, there have been a few attempts at creating eco-friendly areas within towns and cities; but, they are starting on brand new undeveloped sites. Have you seen my previous article Transition Towns here at NowPublic? It describes some community based efforts to transform existing towns. Thanks again for your interest!
at 13:51 on July 3rd, 2008
Caoimhin1, I like this story. It's good stuff.
People are starting to catch on: if you live isolated in big blocks of concrete or other materials reaching to the sky, sealed in, with no way to get fresh air or raise some fresh food, you are literally trapped.
at 13:53 on July 3rd, 2008
Hello there PEP! Thanks for the flag and the comments! Did you follow any of the links in the story? Pretty cool stuff!
at 19:12 on July 3rd, 2008
Caoimhin1, I like this story. It's good stuff. It's big problem in emerging economies like India
at 23:12 on July 3rd, 2008
Thanks Sanjay!
at 23:33 on July 3rd, 2008
Caoimhin1, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 02:24 on July 4th, 2008
Thanks for the read and the flag Johnny! Pig condos may put all the builders back to work here! ;)
at 20:56 on July 6th, 2008
About this photo, I was just amused by seeing tourists come and discover the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
gregorybastien has contributed a photo to this story.
at 02:29 on July 27th, 2008
Totally relevant subject Cao!
Have you seen this video (so many great innovators on www.ted.com:
cradle to cradle - can design save the world? http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design.html
Trouble is, he designed an 'eco-village' in China, that has cause the Chinese government to lose face: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/chinas-first-ecovillage-proves-a-hard-sell/2006/08/25/1156012740582.html?page=fullpage
And, the docu about the work of Jacque Fresco: http://www.fbdthemovie.com/
And, your very own neighbour there in Ireland: Peter Cowman - often referred to as an eco-architect:
http://www.livingarchitecturecentre.com/
at 02:36 on July 27th, 2008
Wow thanks Maireid! Great links!