Comments on: The century of cities http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/2008/02/the-century-of-cities.html Affordable Housing Institue Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:03:17 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Jonathan Powers http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/2008/02/the-century-of-cities.html/comment-page-1#comment-5332 Jonathan Powers Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:09:24 +0000 http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/2008/02/the-century-of-cities.html#comment-5332 Dear David, While I remain sanguine about the potential of urban humanity, I can't say that I've seen _evidence_ that cities will be better in the 21st century than they are now. Certainly you present irrefutable evidence that they will be bigger. And probably more powerful politically for that reason. But the key factor which you haven't addressed--the elephant in the corner--is environmental. Contemporary cities, which are still built on an industrial model, place enormous stress on the surrounding soil, water, and air. Much as I would love to think that cleantech will save us, I frankly doubt it. Environmental collapse, concentrated in the cities, will probably stymie the fully urbanized future of humanity. To provide a specific example: What's your take on the water shortage issues developing in the southeast US? And despite the endorsement of as great an urbanist as Jacobs, I don't feel I can completely back the idea of political regionalism which must result from politically empowered cities. After all, the Italian Renaissance was an age of cities, too--and it was one of the most tumultuous, bloody-minded, and confused epochs in European history. Are we headed toward that kind of trouble again? Dear David,

While I remain sanguine about the potential of urban humanity, I can’t say that I’ve seen _evidence_ that cities will be better in the 21st century than they are now. Certainly you present irrefutable evidence that they will be bigger. And probably more powerful politically for that reason. But the key factor which you haven’t addressed–the elephant in the corner–is environmental. Contemporary cities, which are still built on an industrial model, place enormous stress on the surrounding soil, water, and air. Much as I would love to think that cleantech will save us, I frankly doubt it. Environmental collapse, concentrated in the cities, will probably stymie the fully urbanized future of humanity. To provide a specific example: What’s your take on the water shortage issues developing in the southeast US?

And despite the endorsement of as great an urbanist as Jacobs, I don’t feel I can completely back the idea of political regionalism which must result from politically empowered cities. After all, the Italian Renaissance was an age of cities, too–and it was one of the most tumultuous, bloody-minded, and confused epochs in European history. Are we headed toward that kind of trouble again?

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