Bright Lights, Big Cities Going Green

ByCostas Christ
July 18, 2013
6 min read

I have a confession to make. I don’t much like cities. In fact, as a kid I hated them.

Growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey a few turnpike exits away from Manhattan, I gravitated to the woods, streams, and fields of the Garden State instead of the concrete jungle that was home to my immigrant relatives. Nature made sense to me — it had a rhythm and reason I could understand.

None of this is surprising for a guy who ended up working in the conservation field. But somewhere along the way, I came to appreciate not just the appeal of cities (museums, people, and culture) but also their outsize role in affecting the planet’s future.

According to the United Nations, half the world’s population now lives in cities, and that proportion is expected to increase to more than two-thirds by 2050. If we are to solve our most pressing problems, from climate change to dwindling freshwater resources, we have to get it right in our urban centers. The challenges are immense, but so are the opportunities.

Today, cities are sprouting some of the most innovative green projects in the world, redefining a sustainable future for urban dwellers — and attracting travelers, too.

Here are just a few examples:

High-Rise Shrubbery in Milan

The world’s first vertical urban forest is rising above Italy’s largest industrial city. Bosco Verticale consists of double towers planted with some 700 trees, 5,000 shrubs, and 11,000 smaller plants. The vegetation will create a microclimate that supports birds, butterflies, and other insects, while also absorbing dust — a serious problem in Milan — and CO2, linked to climate change. It will also cut noise pollution and conserve energy.

As growing urban populations strain available space, the idea is to expand upward rather than outward. Though questions remain, Bosco Verticale provides a glimpse of a future where skyscrapers might one day double as forests.

Solar Trees in Singapore

With environmental awareness on the rise among its youthful population, this clean-cut, high-tech city is emerging as the green capital of Asia. Witness the new Gardens by the Bay, an ambitious renewable energy project and ecotourism attraction set on 250 acres of reclaimed land, offering a greener vision of urban renewal.

It features 18 solar-powered “supertrees” up to 16 stories tall, made from steel and concrete “trunks” covered in thousands of plants. Two massive, futuristic-looking glass conservatories capture and filter rainwater. Inside is a Noah’s ark of some of the world’s plants, including, for visitors, interpretations of their modern and traditional uses.

Carbon-sucking spree in Chicago

The famous Millennium Park — surrounded by trendy restaurants and filled with trees and flowers — is actually the largest green roof in the world, stretching some 25 acres over a bustling underground commuter rail station and parking garages. It forms the heart of Chicago’s green belt (which covers roughly 17 percent of the metropolis and removes more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases from the air annually).

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