Summary
The Future of Cities: Rethinking Urban Planning and Design
The world is experiencing extreme urbanization, with a massive need for space and buildings, particularly in regions like Latin America, Africa, and India. To address this, architects, urban planners, and engineers must prioritize building with people in mind, focusing on equity and finding solutions to pressing questions about how to live together happily in the future.
The Challenges of Urbanization
Cities formed around agricultural surpluses and markets, offering opportunities and anonymity, but now face challenges due to overpopulation, with the global population projected to be 70% urban by 2050, straining the city’s ability to produce and support its inhabitants. The car and elevator, over 100-year-old technologies, are seen as major problems by many architects as they promote human isolation, pollution, and social deprivation.
Reimagining City Design
Futuristic city designs imagine neighborhoods without traditional mobility forms like cars and elevators, instead incorporating alternative transportation methods like trams, trains, and micromobility solutions, inspiring unique spatial arrangements and infrastructure. The urban shelf concept involves a single, superordinate structure with stacked floors and loadbearing shelves, allowing for flexible living and working spaces.
Case Studies: Implementing Innovative Urban Design
- Max Vitala is testing his urban design in Temple Hofferfeld, a large open space in Berlin, by creating a virtual map via an app and physically experiencing it by cycling through the space to identify areas for improvement and adjust his design accordingly.
- A project in Tubingan, southern Germany, aims to create an urban space where people can meet and socialize, with a focus on providing opportunities for social interaction and community building, particularly for students and refugees.
Addressing Urban Inequalities
Cities have become polarized, with wealthy investors buying up apartments that remain empty, prioritizing capital over community, and creating inequity by occupying prime spaces and driving out marginalized people. Inequalities play out spatially in cities, with the poor often forced to the edges, leading to informal settlements, which already house over 1 billion people and may triple by 2050.
Using Technology to Create More Livable Cities
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab’s City Science group are developing tools to make communities more livable using technology, including simulating neighborhoods and cities to inform land use decisions and urban planning. A simulation model is used for urban planning, taking into account demographic profiles and allowing for interactive scenarios to predict the consequences of planning decisions.
Sustainable Construction and Materials
The construction industry significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and depletes precious raw materials, with excessive demand for building materials like cement and sand. To address this, two inventors in Germany have created a new building material called polymer concrete, made from desert sand, which could revolutionize the construction industry and provide a more sustainable solution.
Polymer Concrete: A Sustainable Alternative
A machine mixes sand with a polyester resin, made from 38% recycled PET bottles, and a hardening agent to create a durable, non-absorbent building material called polymer concrete, which sets in 20 minutes, requires no water, and generates less CO2 than conventional concrete. A company is producing polymer concrete using small machines on site to create Lego-like bricks for construction.
The Role of Architects in Shaping the Future
Architects have a responsibility to society and must expand their ambition to create a positive impact, being clever, respectful, and honest. They must consider the broader implications of their work in creating a sustainable future and prioritize understanding the needs and wishes of the people being designed for. New solutions and ways of thinking are needed, especially in planning and architecture, with architects considering various disciplines like philosophy, politics, and sociology to create innovative designs.
Rethinking Architectural Education
The founder of an architecture school criticizes traditional teaching methods as too rigid and theoretical, and regrets the loss of human dimension in architecture, advocating for a more humanistic approach. Josephine Bha’s master’s thesis explores a concept where a building’s shape is determined by its inhabitants’ brain waves, changing as their emotions and needs change, using 3D printing to translate brain waves into geometric shapes.
Key Vocabulary
| Term | Definition | Example Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Urbanization | The process of people moving from rural areas to cities, resulting in the growth and development of urban areas. | The world is experiencing extreme urbanization, with a massive need for space and buildings, particularly in regions like Latin America, Africa, and India. |
| Micromobility | A range of transportation modes that are designed for short distances, such as bicycles, scooters, and skateboards. | Futuristic city designs incorporate alternative transportation methods like trams, trains, and micromobility solutions. |
| Urban Shelf | A concept of city design that involves a single, superordinate structure with stacked floors and loadbearing shelves, allowing for flexible living and working spaces. | The urban shelf concept allows for unique spatial arrangements and infrastructure. |
| Polymer Concrete | A building material made from desert sand, polyester resin, and a hardening agent, which is durable, non-absorbent, and sets in 20 minutes. | Two inventors in Germany have created a new building material called polymer concrete, which could revolutionize the construction industry and provide a more sustainable solution. |
| Sustainable Construction | The practice of building and developing structures in a way that minimizes harm to the environment and conserves natural resources. | The construction industry significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and depletes precious raw materials, making sustainable construction a necessary approach. |
| Informal Settlements | Areas of a city where people have built their own homes and communities without formal planning or government approval. | Inequalities play out spatially in cities, with the poor often forced to the edges, leading to informal settlements, which already house over 1 billion people and may triple by 2050. |
| Urban Inequality | The unequal distribution of resources, opportunities, and services within a city, often resulting in disparities between different social and economic groups. | Cities have become polarized, with wealthy investors buying up apartments that remain empty, prioritizing capital over community, and creating inequity by occupying prime spaces and driving out marginalized people. |
| Humanistic Approach | An approach that prioritizes the needs, feelings, and experiences of people, focusing on creating a more compassionate and empathetic environment. | The founder of an architecture school advocates for a more humanistic approach to architectural education, emphasizing the importance of understanding the needs and wishes of the people being designed for. |
| 3D Printing | A technology that creates three-dimensional objects by layering materials such as plastics, metals, and ceramics. | Josephine Bha’s master’s thesis explores a concept where a building’s shape is determined by its inhabitants’ brain waves, changing as their emotions and needs change, using 3D printing to translate brain waves into geometric shapes. |
Watch The Video
Vocabulary Quiz
1. Which word means ‘a state of being alone or having little contact with others’ in the context of urban planning?
A) Equity
B) Pollution
C) Social deprivation
D) Anonymity
2. What is the term for a single, superordinate structure with stacked floors and loadbearing shelves, allowing for flexible living and working spaces?
A) Urban shelf concept
B) Micromobility solution
C) Virtual map
D) Informal settlement
3. Which of the following is a challenge faced by cities due to urbanization?
A) Over-production of food
B) Increased opportunities for social interaction
C) Strain on the city’s ability to produce and support its inhabitants
D) Decrease in global population
4. What is the name of the new building material made from desert sand, which could revolutionize the construction industry and provide a more sustainable solution?
A) Conventional concrete
B) Polymer concrete
C) Recycled PET bottles
D) Greenhouse gas emissions
5. According to the text, what percentage of the global population is projected to be urban by 2050?
A) 40%
B) 50%
C) 60%
D) 70%
Answer Key:
1. C
2. A
3. C
4. B
5. D
Grammar Focus
Grammar Focus: The Use of the Present Participle (-ing form) for Future Actions
Grammar Quiz:
1. The construction industry ____________________ a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.
- will be making
- is making
- has been making
- is going to make
2. By 2050, the global population ____________________ 70% urban, according to projections.
- will have been
- is being
- will be
- has been
3. The urban shelf concept ____________________ a single, superordinate structure with stacked floors and loadbearing shelves.
- involves
- is involving
- will involve
- has involved
4. Architects ____________________ a responsibility to society to create a positive impact.
- have
- are having
- will have
- had
5. The founder of an architecture school ____________________ traditional teaching methods as too rigid and theoretical.
- criticizes
- is criticizing
- will criticize
- has criticized
Answer Key:
1. is making
2. will be
3. involves
4. have
5. criticizes