The cities of the future
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Welcome to explainingthefuture.com
This time I'm going to talk about future cities.
A modern citiy can thought of as a gigantic creature
that depends on resources fed to it
from around the planet. However, in the future
such global supplies cannot be guaranteed.
Cities have evolved into sophisticated
cybernetic machines for keeping civilization alive.
In some respects, cities are therefore
humanities greatest achivement.
Nevertheless, most cities would descend
into anarchy in only 48 hours
without a constant suply of food,
energy and clean water.
The industrial revolution saw a mass migration
of people from the countryside.
Those who remained on the land then had to develop increasingly
intensive farming methods to meet the food requirements
of urban dwellers who could not feed themselves.
Canals, railways and roads
allow the first industrial citites to be
supplied with their daily nutrition.
However this resulted on a food chain
dependent not just on a complex transport infrastructure,
but also fuel and modern fertilizers.
As a consequence, today
every calory we eat also
requires the consumption of ten calories of oil.
And within a few decades at best
this addiction of the modern citiy to petroleum
will no longer be sustainable.
There are, however, possibilities that the farm
might migrate from the countryside.
So called vertical farming could involve multitiered
city farms in future glass skyscrapers
or pyramids. Such stacks of
artificial fields would allow city dwellers to
harvest crops all year round in areas
without available land. They would also
significally reduce the energy required
for food transportation, would lower crop loss
associated with shipping and storage,
could recycle their own water and
within their sealed environments they even
use fewer pesticides.
One vertical farm could potentially feed
fifty thousand people.
However, even before the construction of such
massive projects, laws would be passed requiring
all new buildings in large cities to have
at least some space dedicated to food production.
For example, new appartment blocks could be required to
include hydroponical allotments on the roof.
In addition to food, all cities currently
require significant natural resources to meet
their raw energy needs.
However, alternative technologies, including
solar cells, rooftop wind turbines,
ground source heat pumps and methane power plants
fuelled from domestic rubbish could see
future citites becoming, at least, partly energy sufficient.
Micropower generation might even extent to
physio electric paving slabs to generate electricity from
our footsteps, as well as hydrolic plates in
road surfaces that would generate power as vehicles
drive over them.
In addition to producing at leat some of their own food
and power, future cities will also have to
use fresh water far more efficiently.
In part, this is because treating and transporting fresh water
is energy intensive.
However, half of the world population now live in
countries where the water table is falling.
Future cities will therefore need to capture and
recycle water wherever possible.
Future food, energy and water supplies
are at best uncertain.
The global population of city dwellers also continues
to increase. Future cities therefore need
to become leaner and more self-sufficient.
For more information please see explainingthefuture.com
But now, that's it from another video
And remember the future is in your hands