Toward the city of the future

published on 02 July 2012

While negotiations at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development are deemed to have been a failure by most experts and journalists, urban areas and local authorities enjoyed pride of place at the event. Their proactive policies in the fight against climate change and ability to innovate provide a new momentum to sustainable development. Why and how are cities so effective in the fight against global warming? This web review looks back at the Rio+20 summit and the reasons for which local action was given so much attention.

If cities hold the key to a better future for the planet as a whole, what will their own future be like? What will the cities of tomorrow look like? The City Factory puts forward a number of projects that have attempted to answer these questions in concrete terms.

*Illustration : Copenhagen, 2009

 

Local and urban issues at the Rio+20 summit

Cities are a vital issue for the planet. That is the message, reports CNTV, delivered by Sha Zukang, Secretary General of the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development. He called on heads of state to mobilize action around the concept of sustainable cities and spoke of the importance of electric mobility and sustainable human settlements.

While the press has described the summit as disappointing, an article in Care2 reports several positive points regarding cities that have emerged at the summit. Concrete and deliberate measures have been adopted at the local level thanks to the efforts of elected local officials.

What will the cities of the future look like?

“The city of tomorrow will be a meta-city,” says The Urbn! The site carries productions by The Future of the City in partnership with Design Mind, which uses video to show us the city of tomorrow based on technology trends and the behavioural patterns of city dwellers. One of their most recent productions shows a city that merges open data and enhanced reality in efforts to facilitate residents’ mobility.

A more realistic project concerns Copenhagen, which has implemented a new city guide… for the future. “Copenhagen 2025” features a cleaner, greener, and more connected city, reports Sustainia. In other words, a city that meets the criteria set out at the Rio+20 summit.