Urbanization challenges
Urbanization is a fact of our future. By 2050, two thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. This is unprecedented in our civilization’s history, and will present special challenges to city planners and emergency management officials.
Our infrastructure is old. The list of topics we’ve covered in this blog about infrastructure include being unprepared for sea level rise, aging dams, aging tunnels, aging power grids, heat issues, pollution issues, and many more.
We now have technologies that can enable us to cope with all those issues. But obstacles are many, particularly raising the political will necessary to fund the expensive upgrades and managing the disruptions to life that would be inevitable during the construction.
Which is not to say that we shouldn’t do anything
Doing nothing is rapidly becoming untenable. We’ve explored the problem of doing nothing many times before, including:
[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/the-dangers-of-hidden-infrastructure/” url2=”http://edmdigest.com/adaptation/the-levy-of-levees/” url3=”https://amuedge.com/water-management-in-the-united-states/”]
[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/the-infrastructure-bill-is-due/” url2=”https://amuedge.com/infrastructure-how-bad-is-it-really/” url3=”https://amuedge.com/what-is-wrong-with-the-nations-dams/”]
[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/transportation-infrastructure-bridges/” url2=”https://amuedge.com/bridges-left-unchecked-at-what-cost/” url3=”https://amuedge.com/education/a-look-at-nuclear-power-plants/”]
[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/a-look-back-at-the-hurricane-sandys-impact-on-new-yorks-power-grid/” url2=”https://amuedge.com/aging-rail-tunnels-under-the-hudson-river-need-attention/” url3=”https://amuedge.com/things-that-go-boom-when-we-screw-up/”]
And I could go on. Clearly we here at the [link url=”http://edmdigest.com/edmdigest” title=”EDM Digest“] take this stuff seriously.
So what makes for an ingenious city?
Well, consider this [link url=”http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/siemens/2016/05/ingenious_cities.html” title=”article from Siemens“] that explores several opportunities for intelligent urban upgrades. Ideas include creating modern rail systems, building streets that remove their own snow and ice, using micro-grids for more resilient electrical provision, building more energy-efficient mass transit, designing smarter buildings, and, of course, utilizing wind and solar power.
I’m sure many of us would like to just tear down our cities and start over, doing it right this time. We also understand that’s unlikely to happen, and change will have to occur incrementally.
That’s fine — all modernization is good modernization, and all modernization will eventually have to be accomplished — so may as well begin sooner rather than later.
Food for thought! May it inspire your next upgrade project!
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