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| The
Future of the City |
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Listen
here |
As we enter the 21st century, a staggering 3.2 billion
people are city-dwellers, which is more than half
the human race! And the pace of growth is accelerating.
One hundred years ago, Tokyo was the world's seventh
largest city with just one and a half million residents.
Now it's the biggest on the planet, with a population
of 28 million! However, in the 21st century, the
largest city growth will be in the developing world,
with cities in Asia and Africa expanding the fastest.
The city lures people with the prospect of excitement,
opportunity and work. However in Asia, Latin America
and Africa, much of the urban population actually
live in appalling squalor in shanty towns. These
live uneasily with the rest of the city. Progress
in the 21st century will mean recognising the role
the shanty town dwellers play in the city life.
They need rights to secure tenure, and some of the
innovative ways they've devised to scrape a living
could even be adopted!
New York could learn from a garbage recycling scheme
pioneered by the Zabbaleen people in Cairo and which
has now taken up by a group of scavengers on the
outskirts of the Philippine capital, Manila. New
York, in turn, has tried out a transport system
from Curitiba in Brazil and can share its own experience
of conserving water supplies. This expertise will
be much needed in a century where water will be
an increasingly scarce resource.
The whole form of the city lends itself to sustainable
development in the 21st century. There can be economy
in density, and good city management will recognise
the huge potential for reducing resource use by
re-using waste for example.
Most importantly, cities have the people needed
to tackle their problems. If citizens are involved
and can feel pride in their city, then cities will
prosper in this new millennium. |
| Listen
to Herbert
Girardet, Environmental Planning Specialist
talk about the future of the city |
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| A
Roof over our Head |
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Listen
here |
A roof of grass is nothing new. For thousands of years
people used vegetation for roofing out of necessity. However,
today, it's being incorporated into contemporary buildings
as an ecological gesture. The grass mitigates the effect
of covering fields with concrete and in the case of a
large housing estate or development, green roofing would
certainly be significant.
One of the leading ecological thinkers in the building
world is the Malaysian architect Kenneth Yeang. He has
pioneered the concept of the bio-climatic skyscraper in
which not just the roof is green but the whole building
is planted. This has the effect of improving air quality.
Kenneth Yeang admires and is inspired by traditional ingenuity.
He can see exciting yet practical applications drawn from
such devices as the humble umbrella. He imagines buildings
which have high tech computer controlled umbrellas as
part of their roofing and this can be opened and closed
as required.
The future holds the promise of revolutionary new housing
structures which have been made feasible thanks to the
development of new materials and processes for high quality
pre-fabrication However, so acute are the housing needs
of the bulk of the population of this planet, Society
must turn to the tried and tested methods to provide a
proper roof over people's heads for the forseeable future.
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| Listen
to Deyan Sudjic,
Architectural Expert talk about buildings in the 21st
century |
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| Getting
About |
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Listen
here |
We all know what it's like to wait for a bus that never
comes and when it does it's full! Furthermore, when it
departs, it blows a cloud of nauseating diesel fumes right
into the faces of those left behind. However the proto-type
bus of the future is on the streets right now. It can
be found in the Canadian city of Vancouver. This new breed
of bus is powered by fuel cell technology in which hydrogen
and oxygen are combined to produce electrical power. There
are no poisonous fumes as the only by-product is water.
Major manufacturers confidently predict that such fuel
cell vehicles will be on the market in the next four years.
In the air, great strides have been made of late to reduce
emissions from jet engines and to reduce noise levels.
Rolls Royce are working on the all electric engine which
will replace conventional bearings with magnetic ones
that rotate in magnetic fields rather than oil. This cuts
costs and will allow the engine to be further intregated
into the main body of the plane. This means that aircraft
of the future will have more efficient aerodynamic shapes.
As to the possibility of wider supersonic travel, environmental
and economic pressures make the so-called " son of Concorde"
unlikely.
On the ground, high-speed trains now beat aircraft on
some routes. Whilst the Japanese continue their experiments
with Maglev, their magnetic levitation train, European
railways are concentrating on improving high speed city
links. These utilise existing tracks which take passengers
straight into the heart of cities.
Nevertheless, on every front, congestion slows us down.
Many urge, that in future, we must all try to travel less.
But as Ranjith de Silva of the Intermediate technology
group points out, "isolation leads to poverty," . So if
you need that bus to get you to market, you just have
to wait and hope. |
| Listen
to Professor Whitelegg,
Transport Expert talk about getting about in the 21st
Century |
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| Living
Together |
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Listen
here |
'Community': The word has a comforting sound. It implies
togetherness, a sense of identity and a strength that
comes from belonging to a group. The group could be a
family, nation or a football club.
But, in the 21st century 'communities' will be under threat.
Increasingly we shall be on the move, in search of work
and opportunity, or forced to flee by war or persecution.
Leaving home, family and birthplace, we shall be faced
with the problem of having to choose a community that
we wish to belong to. It will be exciting but worrying,
too. Even our national identity could be challenged. Already
geographical boundaries are blurring, and we are becoming
at the same time more 'international' and more 'local'.
The countries that form the European Union are a key example.
We all need 'community', and in the most difficult circumstances
people will band together to support one another and gain
strength in solidarity. In many developing countries,
homeless groups have recognised the power that they gain
from working as a community. As they have developed community
strengths, they have, in turn, felt stronger as individuals.
However, the most obvious example of the power of community
in adversity is the 'gay' community. Homosexuals are still
not accepted in many countries, but the knowledge that
they are part of a community, that their feelings are
not unique, provides a lifeline for all of them.
In this new century, communities will be changed by technology
too. "The Virtual Community" spans continents, with members
sharing their experiences and their interests via the
Internet. Whatever the changes brought about by technology
and globalisation, people will always adapt and find communities
for love, friendship and mutual support. |
| Listen
to Dr Amitia
Etizioni, guru of the communitarian movement talk
about community in the 21st century |
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| Fixing
Genes |
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Listen
here |
As the 21st century progresses, the design of our homes
may be transformed, and travel problems, a thing of the
past. However, our quality of life will still be undermined
if we live in fear of being attacked or robbed whenever
we venture out.
So how can we ensure that the world will become a safer
place? Surely it would only ever be in some far-fetched
Utopia that we would be able to leave our home without
locking the front door.
In order to find new formulas for fighting crime in the
future, criminologists tend to search for clues in the
present. Which cities have earned the unenviable reputation
of being the crime capitals of the world? Why are the
police fighting a losing battle against criminals in these
particular cities? And why do some cultures such as Japan,
Singapore, and Switzerland, manage to keep the lid on
crime? It is these success stories which might point the
way to solutions in the future.
We take a look at the Metropolitan Police's Department
of Technology in London where they are constantly developing
ever more high tech gizmos and electronic wizardry to
combat crime. They are always endeavouring to stay several
steps ahead of the ingenuity of the criminals themselves.
However, with all the advances in surveillancing, there
are fears for people's privacy.
There's also the danger that technological advances aimed
at improving our security can inadvertently make matters
worse. Car theft in South Africa is one such case. The
gamut of locks, alarms, and immobilisers is now so effective
that it is virtually impossible to steal a parked car.
However, the downside is that the incidence of car-hijackings
is now on the increase. This is when thieves hold a gun
to drivers' heads at traffic lights and steal people's
cars that way.
Perhaps surprisingly, despite the impressive array of
technological innovations available today, the old-fashioned
brass whistle is making a comeback. A factory in England
reports that it already supplies more than 130 countries
and demand is growing. An old fashioned solution to an
old fashioned problem? |
| Listen
to Professor
Nils Christie, Criminology Specialist talk about
the future of crime control |
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