More and more people live in cities. And this
is not going to change in the foreseeable future. But what are the consequences
of this growth for the environment in cities?
Cities in distress
For the
past half century, the development of cities has been mostly focussed on
improving the economy and creating more jobs. With four billion people
currently living in cities, and this number is predicted to have grown with
another two and a half billion by 2050, this focus has to shift to keep cities
safe and healthy. Currently, many cities, especially the ones with more than
ten million people, like Tokyo or Mumbai, struggle with air pollution, poor
water quality, waste-disposal difficulties and many more problems. With the
amount of people that live in cities only growing, this will only get worse in
the future.
Forest in the city
To tackle
these problems, urban ecologists, people who study the ‘nature’ in cities, for
example the plants and the animals that thrive in a city, are trying to find
ways to make cities healthier. With the knowledge these ecologists have
gathered, they’ve been able to find ways to make cities more livable. Urban
ecologists in Melbourne, for example, are building a forest in the middle of
the city, to make the city more healthy and resilient. Other cities around the
world, like London, Singapore and Portland are copying this strategy.
Take action!
Although
our knowledge about urban environments have greatly improved in the past three
decades, there’s still a lot of advances to make. Not only do we need to
discover the causes of the problems megacities are facing, we also need to turn
this knowledge into action that can actually help distressed megacities. And
these advances in urban ecology are needed quite fast since the amount of
people in cities is only growing, while the life standards in cities only
decrease.
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