With cities worldwide facing daunting environmental challenges on a global scale, a multidisciplinary team at Arup seeks to create a model for how cities can develop carbon neutrally Dongtan’s ecological footprint The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) describes the global environmental imbalance succinctly: “Sustainability requires living within the regenerative capacity of the planet. Currently, human demand on the planet is exceeding the planet’s regenerative capacity by about 20 percent. This is called ‘overshoot.’ ” Dongtan is expected to eventually be home to more than 500,000 residents, which is a drop in the bucket for a country of 1.3 billion people. But
With cities worldwide facing daunting environmental challenges on a global scale, a multidisciplinary team at Arup seeks to create a model for how cities can develop carbon neutrally Once upon a time, when the world’s population was a fraction of the 6.5 billion it is today, environmental issues were thought of as local problems. Writers, politicians, scientists, and activists have recorded the polluted, disease-producing conditions of urban centers for centuries. Benjamin Franklin petitioned the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1739 to stop dumping waste and remove tanneries from Philadelphia’s commercial district, citing foul odors, lower property values, and disease. And yet, even
In 2001 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows awarded its first Latrobe Fellowship to Philadelphia architects Stephen Kieran, FAIA, and James Timberlake, FAIA. The grant was established to fund research leading to significant advances in the profession of architecture.
Imagine thirty years from now. Will urban areas in 2030 look like Ridley Scott’s Los Angeles in the sci-fi movie Blade Runner—a prelude to Armageddon where the affluent reside in the tops of 400-story skyscrapers, and the less fortunate scratch out an unsavory existence in the seamy, polluted, and lawless regions on the surface?