Green Cities of The Future

In this future the word of the day is ‘Green'. This means green living, green cities, green energy and green food.

But why the switch from Industrial to Ecological? The answer lies deep in our dwindling natural resources, overpopulation and high levels of pollution. 

Rapid energy consumption is a major problem and transportation currently amounts to nearly a quarter of the world's energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission. Reducing this would significantly impact the environment. In most cases it would also reduce the heat and humidity levels of the land.
Other factors such as electricity, fuel, manufacturing and waste contributes detrimentally to the environment and the authority body created to see this vision into reality, the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) have begun preliminary planning and implementation to trial and perfect this vision of the future.

Sustainable Cities have four pillars; Eco-industrial parks, urban farming, urban infill and walkable urbanism.
1. Eco-industrial parks: This is an industrial park where businesses cooperate with each other to significantly lower the waste and pollution generated from their day to day activities as well as to effectively share resources such as materials, energy, water, infrastructure, information and natural resources. This type of industrial park is also known as an Industrial Symbiosis and this occurs when by-products of manufacturing such as steam or sludge is sold to another company for their use rather than being disposed or distributed into the environment. This is similar to a natural ecosystem where everything gets used/recycled.

2. Urban Farming: This is a process of growing and distributing food as well as raising animals in and around the city which is fully integrated into the urban landscape. Examples of urban farming would be ‘farmscrapers' where farms are created on the roof levels of skyscrapers and tended to by the citizen labourers. Car parks can also be used as farms. With reduced private transports, multi storey car parks (also called vertical farms) provide an alternative.

3. Urban infill: This is a process whereby denser urban living is created. This brings more people out of the surrounding countryside into the cities to supplement the urban farming processes and sustainability.

4. Walkable urbanism: It is a development strategy which encourages housing for a diverse population with integrated purposes and walkable streets with ample positive public spaces

Floating Ecopolis.If global warming melts the world's glaciers and raises sea levels, the first to know about it will be the citizens of the Maldives, a low-lying chain of island atolls in the Indian Ocean. Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut was thinking of the Maldivians when he designed Lilypad, a floating city for climate refugees.

South Korea Power Centre.Since the turn of the millennium, the South Korean government has adopted a master planning strategy in which "power centers" packed with housing and offices are built in desirable locations to encourage new towns to grow up around them. For an entirely new town 20 miles from Seoul, the Dutch architecture firm MVRDV has proposed a network of hill-like structures that will merge harmoniously with the surrounding landscape of lakes and forests.
The new power center of Gwanggyo would feature terraced buildings with a garden on the outer edge of every floor, giving all residents access to outdoor space and growing things. The gardens will also give a green sheen to the self-sufficient town.

Car-Free paradise.Visitors to the Black Sea Gardens would drive from inland highways and leave their cars in underground parking lots at the entrance to each village. From there, tourists and residents alike would move around the town using electric shuttle buses, communal bicycles, and the power of their own feet.

Farming The Sky.In this towering scheme, five "cocoon greenhouses" would be fixed on a central stalk. In each cocoon, seawater would be turned into water vapor that would cool and humidify the greenhouses, and would also be distilled to produce freshwater.

Green And Extreme Agriculture.Could floating cities provide refuge for climate refugees? Can one colossal structure house 1 million people? Should offshore oil rigs be turned into luxury hotels?

Petro-Holiday.The renovation could neatly symbolize our culture's turn away from fossil fuels, the architects say, while also providing a killer locale for snorkeling, fishing, and sailing. Wind and wave energy would power the resort, and the guest rooms, modeled on barnacles clinging to the side of a ship, would have balconies that retract during bad weather.