Cities of the future.

Byline: Stefanos Evripidou

ANYONE WHO'S been to the archaeological site at Kalavasos-Tenta will know that a group of people gave up their nomadic lifestyle to settle there some 9,000 years ago.

They didn't know it at the time, but this community of pioneers developed an original civilisation called the Cypriote Aceramic Neolithic.

Ignoring the poor preservation of the site, the first thing that springs to mind is the sense of order to this prehistoric community. The cluster of circular-shaped buildings betrays a level of pre-planning in its organisation. Some are bigger than others, suggesting different uses, and even different rankings within the community. Well, it's nice to see some consistency over nine millennia.

It's a pretty impressive site for a bunch of islanders living 9,000 years ago, though you wouldn't exactly call it innovative urban planning. For that you'd have to fast forward to the third millennium BCE, with the rise of the world's three earliest urban civilisations: Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus Valley civilisation.

The level of forethought in the design and functionality of urban areas varied depending on the totalitarian rulers of the day, technological advances and agricultural development. The early cities going back some four thousand years boasted streets built in grid patterns, laid out to minimise noise pollution and maximise privacy. These ancient cities often had drainage systems, a nod to urban sanitation.

Further down the line were the Greeks showcasing Alexandria, the defensive-minded Romans with their square grid city planning and much later, the French boulevards of the 19th century, which brings us to the last 100 years when urban planning really developed into an organised profession.

In the meantime, globalisation brought down barriers in trade, the economy, culture, knowledge, information, communication and transportation. The shrinking of the planet also coincided with huge migratory flows to cities and urban settlements, which now make up more than 75 per cent of the world's population.

The difficulties are prevalent, with increased strains on infrastructure, transportation and communication networks, yet flows to the cities are also having a supra-municipal impact, with cities looking beyond their territorial and administrative limits.

Networks are being built and decisions taken on a multi-layered level, with greater exchanges between national, regional and local administrations around the world. Cities are spreading out, creating international networks in the process. Our futures are being built in the cities.

So what are today's urban challenges? Population growth, ageing population, urbanisation, social inequality, limited natural resources, mobility, pollution, destruction of the ecosystem and climate change to mention a few.

Following the transhistorical pattern of increasing needs and depleting resources, the buzzword on everybody's lips, from country leaders to CEOs and environmentalists is sustainability. But exactly how are we adapting our cities and landscapes to create a sustainable future?

Last November, 44 delegates from 29 countries in Asia and Europe were invited by the Madrid City Council to discuss sustainability, the future of cities and urban regeneration.

Alfonso Vegara, an architect planner, economist and sociologist all in one, addressed the conference. Vegara is President of Fundacion Metropoli, an international organisation that aspires to contribute globally to creating or developing cities as "ecosystems of innovation".

The global planner noted that in 1950, only 80 cities worldwide had a population over one million. By 2000, the figure increased to 365 cities with over one million souls. Now, there are over 19 cities with populations of over 10 million.

Vegara referred to the "Urban America 2050" project between 40 universities, a bottom-up network of "supercities" that wish to protect the environment and avoid sprawl in their cities as they grow larger and larger. One of the project's conclusions is that by 2050, middle America will disperse to the coasts, adding greater pressure to urban coastal areas. The only way for the US to maintain its lead in the world economy is through strategic planning and innovation to prepare for the changes ahead.

"In today's global economy, competition is not between countries but between cities and regions. Cities are fundamental for the competitiveness of companies, but they are also critical spaces for tolerance, solidarity and creativity. They are responsible for contributing to the sustainability of the planet," he said.

In a nutshell: "The greatest challenge of the 21st century is building a sustainable future through a culture of innovation. Over the long term, cities are not the problem, but the solution of 21st century challenges."

One easily identifiable challenge is how to meet our energy needs. Less than eight per cent of total energy consumption around the world comes from renewable energy sources like solar, wind or biomass energy. As we continue to guzzle energy, we are experiencing loss of biodiversity, water shortages, climate change and so on.

"Without leadership, cities cannot compete. Building cities of the future is a huge challenge in all aspects, social, environmental and political," pointed out Vegara.

"Innovation does not happen by chance. Cities of success must have the capacity to identify their own identity, their component of excellence along with the creativity to inspire new projects, and have a strong dialogue with other competitive cities and clusters of excellence," he added.

In other words, for a city, big or small, to tackle this century's challenges and create a sustainable future, it has to be able to identify its strong points and work on them in a creative fashion, while maximising its connectivity (networks) with other innovative cities.

Vegara gave a few examples of innovative super cities, referring to the bottom up approach in Manhattan, where the meatpacking district has recently attracted a creative class of people who have upgraded a very depressed area.

Philadelphia, which has 80 universities and an excellent capacity to attract talent is now working on trying to keep that talent by creating an area intersected by the Avenue of the Arts and the Avenue of Technology.

Singapore whose capita per income was one third that of Spain in 1965 now has a per capita income 70 per cent higher than Spain after focusing on its own component of excellence. It is currently engaged in a top-down experiment called One North to create a new generation of technology parks dedicated to multimedia and biotechnology. The idea is to combine working areas with living areas to create a symbiosis between business ecologies and urban life, where residents, artists, venture capitalists live and work together in the same spot. By creating such an exceptional location, they hope to attract and retain diverse talent.

The Basque city of Bilbao employed knowledge-based innovation and architecture, allowing them to reap the benefits of the "Guggenheim Effect", whereby the Guggenheim Museum brought global attention to the city and greatly enhanced its self-esteem to even higher levels.

"They say Jesus was very humble, because having had the chance to be born in Bilbao, he decided to be born in Bethlehem," joked Vegara.

The city now enjoys one of the best metros in the world, designed by renowned architect, Norman Foster.

La Rioja is an example in agricultural innovation where the wine industry was transformed into a new tourist destination by creating cathedrals of wine, great architectural designs showcasing the culture of wine.

In Namibia, 60 per cent of the capital's population live outside the city in the Katutura township, which in the local language means "the place where nobody wants to live".

The Fundacion Metropoli convinced international artists to share their art with Katutura, using the township and the morphology of the land as one great big canvas. By splashing colour across the town, Katutura has become a tourist destination, increasing the township's self-esteem through art.

One of the main points repeated throughout the debate on sustainable cities was the need to have a strategic approach. Madrid City Council is a case in point, having employed Madrid Global to work on a long-term strategy to "internationalise" the Spanish capital. The aim is for the city to reach the same global relevance and connectivity as London, Tokyo, Paris and New York. It is no surprise then that Madrid is also vying to host the 2016 Olympics. It worked for Barcelona in 1992. It also worked for Valencia after hosting the Americas Cup. Global events, especially sporting ones, have consistently proved to be catalysts for urban renewal and internationalisation of a city.

So, going back to urban planning, how can we create sustainable cities of the future?

Peter Archer, director of regeneration and housing services at The Old Rectory in Britain stressed that any change or development needed community engagement to be successful in the long run.

"You need an accountable local champion, and some private investment to give a sense of ownership to the community," he said.

Of course, community engagement does not always provide the results urban planners want. Over a million people in Manchester recently voted against imposing congestion charge in the city. City planning and technology play an interlinked role in providing problems and solutions, particularly in transport.

In South Korea, citizens are able to use UV remote controls to control everything in their flat from great distances, lessening travel needs to their homes.

In Tokyo, the train system is highly complex and effective, allowing millions of people to travel to work and home on a daily basis.

Singapore and Estonia provide Wi-Fi access almost everywhere, with residents considering internet access almost a human right. Estonia even employs education buses to go round villages training people on internet use. However, not all countries have the same concerns, like Cambodia for instance, where the percentage of internet users has yet to reach double figures.

In one town in Pakistan, petrol credits are given out in a limited fashion, encouraging people to use bicycles. Barcelona has adopted a bike-sharing system where by residents can pick up public bikes from multiple points across the city.

In Lithuania, there is a website offering cooperation to car pool with someone going in the same direction, showing initiative for greater social responsibility.

It is obvious that there is no standard model solution for every city. Each area needs to find its own solutions, but certain key elements can be shared by all. A successful city needs to possess a number of important elements: innovation, diversity, skills, connectivity, living space quality and leadership. A future city needs to blend public and private spaces so work, home and entertainment are close enough to lessen transport needs. Cities need to be places of opportunity, creating healthy spaces that draw people away from their computers.

As one of the delegates noted, cities are not natural phenomena. They must be developed to allow freedom of thought while maintaining a safety net, so your neighbour does not grow hungry without you knowing.

Malaysian urban planning expert, Dr Goh Ban Lee highlighted two approaches to urban management. One is the building of integrity and social responsibility so you don't need CCTV cameras everywhere or even road bumps. "Like in Germany and Japan, though that took up to 200 years to achieve," he said.

Or the short-cut approach: massive state intervention. Lee referred to Singapore, using the example of the American youth who was punished with painful lashes by the authorities after falling foul of the country's strict vandalism laws.

It's a question worth asking, do you compromise on liberty for clean and crime-free streets?

Lee also stressed the dangers of a flawed legal system.

"When we see non-compliance, like the many illegal food hawkers on the streets in Malaysia, they are there because the system is flawed. If they obeyed the law they would starve. The system requires non-compliance for their survival," warned Lee.

Finally, the debate ends with a series of pertinent questions. What kind of future cities do we want for Cyprus? What is the long-term strategy for our capital, Nicosia? What is our component of excellence and how can we create an ecosystem of innovation which allows us to live in a sustainable manner while putting our cities on the world map? Do we need a bottom-up or top-down approach or a bit of both?

Do citizens want to see "common sense" cities, where public and private spaces attract human contact, where there is trust, co-existence and sustainable living intertwined with technologies that support the infrastructure?

Do we want our cities to be friendly, safe, comfortable, noise and pollution-free, providing us with confidence to interact with other residents?

If yes to any of the above, then what are our plans for capacity building, urban planning and urban management? What compromises are we willing to make and what is our strategy?

If we really are to prepare for a sustainable future, these questions have to be asked and answered by city leaders and residents together, starting today.

Copyright [c] Cyprus Mail 2008

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