Engineering and Environmental Challenges Technical Symposium on Earth Systems Engineering (2002) / Chapter Skim
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Hybrid Cities: A Basis for Hope
Hybrid Cities: A Basis for Hope
Pages 95-104
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From page 95... ...
Excessive paving had made matters worse, causing water run-off, flooding, aquifer depletion, and reliance on an expensive water supply system. Mexico City illustrates starkly how unsustainable our current urban practices are.
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From page 96... ...
Cities account for a majority of the world's wealth and provide more than 50 percent of the world's employment. If population growth remains on its current trajectory, the global workforce will swell from about 3 billion today to nearly 4.5 billion by 2050 (World Resources Institute, 2000~.
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From page 97... ...
Rising rates of automobile ownership and the absence of public transportation and environmentally sound rapid transit systems have led to unprecedented levels of pollution and traffic congestion in cities. Urban air pollution is estimated to be responsible for more than three million deaths annually worldwide, almost all of them children (World Health Organization, 1997~.
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From page 98... ...
This phenomenon of dual habitation, which is growing in the West and among affluent city dwellers in the developing world, is an indication of what many more people would do if they could. As cities continue to expand, the pressures to manage water and energy resources, organize food production and distribution, and manage basic amenities, such as housing, transportation, and public health, will increase.
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From page 99... ...
One such vision is the "hybrid city," the concentrated development of urban centers with populations of one million or less and the creation of countryside or small-town-like environments within large urban centers. A FRAMEWORK FOR HYBRID CITIES The hybrid city would be a sustainable community that emphasizes civic engagement, social justice, environmental soundness, and economic diversity.
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From page 100... ...
By moving a major highway underground, for instance, Boston is creating huge open spaces in the heart of its downtown. To reduce air pollution and create a more pristine environment, Chattanooga has replaced automobile traffic in the downtown area with free public transportation that runs on nonpolluting fuels (World Resources Institute, 2001~.
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From page 101... ...
Because a hybrid city would incorporate ideas, such as direct political representation, inherent in small towns and rural settings, it would encourage civic engagement and social justice, which are critical to making cities more sustainable but are often lost in the rush to make cities more modern or more manageable. By advocating village-like or craft-like activities in production, processing, manufacturing, and services, the hybrid city would attempt to create a variety of employment opportunities and outlets for many skills, such as crafts and manufacturing, that are becoming irrelevant in the urban economy.
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From page 102... ...
Thus hybrids would decentralize power and legitimize many different voices. Finally, by drawing attention to small urban centers and developing urban clusters within villages possibly the hybrid cities of the future investments would be directed to relatively forgotten communities.
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From page 103... ...
. World Resources Institute.
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