As the human population rapidly increases, new ways are constantly being researched on how to support humanity. Scientists and social workers are now looking to urbanization to handle the population explosion, and to save Earth’s remaining ecosystems. Creating urban shelter for the entire world is a bold plan, but it is the only way to effectively deal with our ever growing society.

The Logic of Dense Urbanization

In the course of one hundred years, the human population has increased by five billion individuals, so it is essential to house each individual with as little environmental impact as possible. The solution then is to start building up instead of out. Contrary to popular belief, mega-cities like New York are incredibly energy efficient. Also, if you stack buildings vertically, you leave more rural area to sustain Earth’s ecosystems. This shows that dense cities are very environmentally sound, but that it is urban sprawl that needs to be addressed and reformed. Slums like the one in Tijuana, Mexico are extremely damaging to the environment. Furthermore, there is a smaller population spread over a larger area of land, which greatly increases the energy requirements for living. When many people live in one giant skyscraper, however, energy can more efficiently travel throughout the building. There is also less travelling required for resources because society is packed closer together. This means less gas for transport, which results in both less money spent and less pollutants in the air. Therefore, it is clear that densely packed cities are not the enemy. They can be created to be green, can have a positive impact on the environment, and can efficiently and effectively shelter the world’s population.

Aerial View of New York                                                                                                                                          Source

Earth-Friendly Architecture

Urbanization starts with using sustainable, but Earth-friendly architecture. Bamboo for instance, is stronger than steel in tension, and stronger than concrete in terms of compression. Furthermore, planted bamboo cleans out pollutants from the soil, and admits more oxygen into the atmosphere than any other deciduous plant. Bamboo is therefore an excellent alternative building material. Also, if solar panels were on top of the majority of skyscrapers in New York City, they would produce enough energy to run the entire city. Furthermore, using proper irrigation techniques, rainwater alone could be used to supply the city with local, organic produce. These are just a couple of ways for using what nature provides to sustain society. The whole point of these initiatives is to intertwine each shelter into a giant system of sustainability. If you have a subdivision of homes, energy from the sun and from earth could be used to heat and cool the entire neighborhood year round. This shows just how livable using clean energy could actually be is living areas were tethered to each other in this way. Therefore, by using Earth-friendly architecture and proper planning, clean energy and resources could make cities and their surroundings even more livable then they are now.

As we humans take up more of the world, proper planning and execution is essential to improve our way of life, and to improve the state of the planet. Creating dense, environmentally efficient cities to house our increasing population is the only way to sustain planet Earth and ourselves. Doing so will not only save what nature we have left, but will also create a better way of life for everyone.

Source used for the writing of this article: Massive Change by Bruce Mau and the Institute Without Boundaries