Architect Peter Calthorpe – who spoke at a City Program lecture in 2006 – has a new book out: “Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change”.
The urban solution involves both technology and design. For example, we will need to dramatically reduce the number of miles we drive as well as develop less carbon intensive vehicles. It will mean living and working in buildings that demand significantly less energy as well as powering them with renewable sources. It will involve the kinds of food we eat, the kinds of homes we build, the ways we travel, and the kinds of communities we inhabit.
It will certainly involve giving up the idea of any single “silver bullet” solution (whether solar or nuclear, conservation or carbon capture, adaptation or mitigation) and understand that such a transformation will involve all of the above–and, perhaps most important, that they are all interdependent.
Click here for the full interview.
UPDATE: Mike Jones out at UBC (who thinks my blog is “fantastic” – hey, thanks Mike) also thinks you might find the latest episode of the Freakonomics podcast interesting:
Could it be that cities are “our greatest invention” — that, despite a reputation as black-soot-spewing engines of doom, they in fact make us richer, smarter, happier and (believe it!) greener?
