Zaheer Allam - Biotechnology and Future Cities: Towards Sustainability, Resilience and Living Urban Organisms

Cover illustration: Melisa Hasan

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Humans will increasingly live in an urban environment and by 2050, 70% of the global population are expected to live in cities. Cities remain the centres for economic activity and account for 80% GDP generated worldwide. Many countries are looking up to them as engines for advancing national growth and are also expected to provide better standards of living and progress towards sustainable urban development.

As the world continues to urbanize, the highest concentration of growth is expected to be in Asia and Africa, regions that are home to over 50% of the worlds population and housing some of the poorest countries in the world. Inequality is highest in urban areasone out of three urban residents in the developing world lives in a slum.

Cities are among the highest consumers of energy and responsible for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. Shocks and stresses such as natural disasters and economic crises tend to hit cities the hardest, as the concentration of people and assets makes them particularly vulnerable. They are also faced with numerous, and often elusive challenges, including the need to provide basic urban infrastructure and services, address the problem of informal settlements and the need to withstand the effects of climate change.

Somehow, cities around the world are tackling these challenges head-on by implementing radical urban designs, adopting innovative ideas to efficiently manage urbanization and gradually becoming the face of sustainable practices. Roof tops covered with grass, vegetable gardens, lush foliage are now common sights in many cities around the world. Their wide-ranging benefits include savings on energy costs, mitigating the risk from floods, creating habitats for urban wildlife, tackling air pollution and urban heat and even producing food.

However, buy-in from city authorities through the appropriate investments, businesses and other institutions including research institutions, is crucial to ensuring the success of these smart cities or sustainable cities. The terms Sustainable cities, perceived to be oxymorons are increasingly being viewed as means to mitigate threats to the natural environment while creating urban living capacity, by combining low carbon and resource-efficient development with the use of information and communication technologies to better manage complex urban systems. Smart cities however will only make sense when technology, a strong regulatory environment, meets the citizens needs.

The present publication by Zaheer Allam presents an interesting perspective on the concept of Future cities and how the alignment of technology, urban governance, bold ideas can be used to help meet the goals of sustainability.