This moment in our planet’s history presents an urgent need for transformative thinking and action to make our cities and villages sustainable, and empower habitats for people from across the socioeconomic spectrum, now and for the future. The most pressing challenges are extreme climate change, population pressures, social and economic inequities, the growing refugee crisis, and managing evolving technologies. Cities and villages are dynamic entities that reflect the aspirations and lifestyles of their inhabitants. However, the rapid pace of change has exacerbated many interconnected challenges such as congestion, pollution, inequitable infrastructure, social inequalities, and resource depletion. Impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and sea-level rise, further exacerbate the vulnerability of urban environments already stressed by racial, gender, and ideological divides. We can meet these challenges by developing strong policy directives and fostering international collaboration and knowledge sharing among innovators, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and citizens. Recognising the urgency of this task, this compendium, Livable Cities for the Future, brings together the insights of prominent scholars and experts in the fields of sustainability and urban design from around the world.
According to Abraham Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs theory’, once humans have satisfied their basic needs of food, water, and shelter, the actualisation of their full potential can begin to take place. While modern cities are centres of wealth accumulation and incubators of cutting-edge technologies and ideas, they are also home to many populations whose basic needs of food, water, and shelter are not adequately met. The severely marginalised poor worldwide, from New York to Mumbai to Mombasa, are being joined by new climate and capitalism refugees every day. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, over 1.2 billion climate refugees are expected to move to inland cities worldwide by 2050[1]. This does not include capitalism refugees, who are facing desperation due to factors such as crop failures or poverty-induced violence in their home countries. According to the UN Network on Migration, 20,000 people have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean since 2014[2]. However, recent migrations, already among the most extensive human movements in history, are just the tip of the iceberg. Cities need to prepare for the coming influx so that migrants and the currently marginalised citizens can thrive instead of just surviving in future cities.
The threats and potential of the self-learning capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (AI) will also impact cities. AI is set to influence or even control urban transport, energy, water, sewage, security, and policing systems of the future. AI systems can pick up data from various sources, learn patterns, and make assumptions and decisions. AI can also misinterpret data and patterns, fabricate misinformation during a pandemic or a climate disaster, and send people rushing into harm’s way. The urgent challenge is to generate political will, commitment, and resources to ensure that generative AI and other technological developments are adequately controlled.
At the heart of this compendium lies the recognition that expertise and innovation are not confined to specific geographical regions or disciplines. By inviting essays from renowned scholars representing diverse cultures, backgrounds, and areas of expertise, we aim to foster a global dialogue that transcends borders and disciplinary boundaries. By exploring different contexts, case studies, and theoretical frameworks, we can better understand the complexities inherent in urban sustainability and design. Four clear themes have emerged from the writings in this compendium, which are presented as clusters described below.
Under the ‘Big Ideas’ cluster, Guilherme Lassance from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, questions the dense city narratives that are now popular to ask why urban planners are not coming to terms with the excluded urban periphery. Saskia Sassen from New York, US, focuses on the need for new institutions to bridge the gap between local civility and urgent global issues. She also describes the corporate capture of cities by financial business formations. Sara Roversi from Bologna proposes ‘Prosperity Thinking’, a methodological approach to designing a world that fulfils all its beings’ needs within the planet’s ecological means. Lastly, Tetsuo Kidokoro and Norihisa Shina from Tokyo, Japan, propose a new urban framework for planetisation rather than globalisation.
Three authors have looked at urban problems and solutions from the ‘Lens of Social Justice’. Peter Marcotullio from New York has focused on environmental, energy, and climate justice in the US, pointing the way towards a more just future for all. A passionate advocate of gender justice, Susan Blaustein from Washington DC, US, shows us how women’s empowerment and gender justice are intrinsically linked to the planet’s environmental sustainability. Kate Ascher from New York and London (UK), while observing the radical transformation underway in the very structure and form of post-COVID-19 cities, also focuses on transport justice, which has historically led to social and spatial injustices.
No discourse about present and future cities can be complete without squarely facing the issues of ‘Informal Settlements’. Already perilous due to their uncertain tenures and ecologically vulnerable locations, they are now rendered even more susceptible due to climate catastrophes, which are only increasing. Matias Echanove (from Geneva, Switzerland) and Rahul Srivastava (from Mumbai, India) posit that the only logical solution is to allow and empower residents to self-build and improve their homes, streets, and neighbourhoods with local knowledge, and in partnership with the government to ensure adequate infrastructure. Relocating essential urban workers away from their work to make space for profit-making developments is not socially or economically smart.
Three authors have provided the ‘Historic Perspective’ necessary to move us forward. Kaisa Bronen-Bauer from Finland describes the ongoing big shift away from Modernist ideas of the early and mid-twentieth century, towards today’s more human-centric and urgent needs. This essay helps us locate our position as urban practitioners in the large tapestry of history. Nikos Salingaros from Texas, US, questions the enduring fascination with modernist architectural forms that are utterly unsatisfying to the human soul and the systematic media campaign denigrating the forms of traditional architecture that have been scientifically proven to be more satisfying to human beings.
Since the future of cities must include the point of view of future citizens and decision-makers, Sushmita Shekar, provides the ‘Young Person’s Perspective’ and their needs going forward.
We hope this compendium sparks conversations, inspires innovation and action, and fosters collaborations that transcend disciplinary and national borders. We are incredibly grateful to each author for providing important ideas that need to be discussed not only in urban planning, policy, and academic forums, but also amongst community groups so that our cities can be places of well-being, inclusivity, and sustainability for all, now and in the future.
Endnotes
[1] Sean McAllister, “There could be 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050. Here’s what you need to know,” Zurich, June 3, 2023, https://www.zurich.com/en/media/magazine/2022/there-could-be-1-2-billion-climate-refugees-by-2050-here-s-what-you-need-to-know.
[2] “Deadliest quarter’ for migrants in the Central Med since 2017,” International Organization of Migration, April 12, 2023, https://www.iom.int/news/deadliest-quarter-migrants-central-mediterranean-2017.
