Meeting future urbanisation need: a way forward

Overview

It is expected that by 2030, 5 billion people of the Earth's population will live in cities. This growth in urbanisation results in significant challenges pertaining to environmental and social sustainability. Statistics indicates that cities consume about 70% of the world’s resources and hence are major consumers of energy resources and significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions due to the density of population and the intensity of related economic and social activities, in addition to the inefficiency of the built environment.

Globally, cities generate 70% of the total waste. Most of the cities are located near coastal areas and thus under the threat of sea level rise. Currently, many small countries are in real need of additional sovereign territory for which they even build on rotting landfills and install various kinds of expensive artificial islands.

There are options such as using underground spaces and tall buildings to meet the urbanization requirements, however, a better solution for this can be the employment of floating cities. Likewise, floating cities can be a viable response to the rising sea level. Such cities in the first instance can be built near coastal areas and if successful, they can be extended into the sea.

This event will shed light on the design aspects of such cities including the materials for construction that are more sustainable in sea water. The presentation will cover strategies for making these cities self-sufficient and environmentally friendly, focusing on the key elements including energy, water, food, waste, mobility, and habitat regeneration.

While there is history of such cities, apparently this is considered as a new concept. Adopting such cities will not only solve the problems of current and future urbanisation but can also help in achieving several UN sustainable development goals.