Cities Are Part of the Solution - Increase Density
Looking at pictures from my trip to Japan there was one that spawned this idea. It was taken in Tokyo that megalopolis of 38 million people. Along with the people come cars, garbage, pollution, chemicals, land taken for agriculture, seas drained of their fish stock, etc. We’ve all heard about how our crowded Earth is causing its slow destruction. So here is the picture. It was taken in the Shibuya area of Tokyo.
Shibuya is the epitome of consumer society. There are billboards all over buildings. Because there aren’t enough shops at street level six or seven storey buildings are purpose built for more - basically vertical streets with more shops in them. You can find pretty much anything you want from the most extravagant and over priced to the most basic. There is lots of glam, glitz and bling. It is a lot of fun and has tremendous energy. One of the billboards in this picture proclaims “Save the Earth”.
This picture represents a few opposites to me. Save the Earth....yet shop like a mad person. Save the Earth....drive your cars. City scenes are often what are shown when we try to depict our crowded world. Makes sense really since most people live in them, and more so every year. Having said that though cities are also the most efficient way to house and nourish people. If we all lived in small apartments in towers we’d use up less space. We would use less energy to heat, to transport.
Shibuya is the epitome of consumer society. There are billboards all over buildings. Because there aren’t enough shops at street level six or seven storey buildings are purpose built for more - basically vertical streets with more shops in them. You can find pretty much anything you want from the most extravagant and over priced to the most basic. There is lots of glam, glitz and bling. It is a lot of fun and has tremendous energy. One of the billboards in this picture proclaims “Save the Earth”.
This picture represents a few opposites to me. Save the Earth....yet shop like a mad person. Save the Earth....drive your cars. City scenes are often what are shown when we try to depict our crowded world. Makes sense really since most people live in them, and more so every year. Having said that though cities are also the most efficient way to house and nourish people. If we all lived in small apartments in towers we’d use up less space. We would use less energy to heat, to transport.
Urban sprawl is an enormous destructive force. Rather than show crowded cities we should be showing those enormous tracts of land being flattened for one and two storey houses with loads of land around them. But it is not as obvious that there is a problem when one sees children playing on a swing set in their enormous backyard. But zoom back and see all the backyards put together and you start seeing the surface of the earth being eaten up. Why not have these kids play in a park together? Share the backyard so to speak.
Yes....we have a lot of people on the planet. And yes we need more land to grow our food and yes we are fishing our sees the death. But cities are one of the solutions to our problems.
Yes....we have a lot of people on the planet. And yes we need more land to grow our food and yes we are fishing our sees the death. But cities are one of the solutions to our problems.
Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!
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