Future Cities: Rethinking tomorrow

By 2050, it is predicted that three-quarters of the world’s people will live in cities, up from half today. Most of the growth will be in developing countries and capital cities.  Urbanisation, globalisation and climate change are closely interlinked – with globalisation driving urban development in low-lying coastal zones and city expansion increasing both carbon emissions and climate vulnerability.
How do we rethink urban planning to build liveable, equitable, zero-carbon cities, supported by their own bioregions rather than global supply chains?  Is there a role for high-rise, high-density planning in making best use of infrastructure and freeing up land for food growing, water storage, nature and recreation? What do new materials and best practice in governance offer tomorrow’s citizens?

Information about the speakers and links to their reports and presentations are below:

• Jonathan Essex is a chartered engineer and environmentalist and author of the chapter 'Linking Cities and the Climate: Is Urbanisation Inevitable?' in Green House's 2019 book Facing Up to Climate Reality.
  Download Jonathan's presentation here.
• Maya de Souza works in public policy in the UK. She is the author of the 2020 Green House report Urban Planning Hong Kong Style: the High-Rise Way: Rethinking our Vision of Sustainable Cities.
  Download Maya's presentation here.
• Duncan Baker-Brown is an architect and Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Brighton. He is author of The Re-Use Atlas: a designer’s guide towards a circular economy published by RIBA, and designed The Brighton Waste House in 2014..
  Download Duncan's presentation here.
• Rebecca Tunstall is Professor Emerita of Housing Policy at the University of York. She is author of The Fall and Rise of Social Housing, published in 2020.

Event Recording: