Name: 未來城市 (Future Cities)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T04:57:19.000Z
Duration: 5 min 18 s
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This time, I'm going to talk about future cities.

A modern city can be thought of as gigantic creature

that depends on resources fed to it from around the planet.

such global supplies cannot be guaranteed.

Cities have evolved into sophisticated cybernetic machines

In some aspects, cities are therefore humanity's greatest achievement.

Nevertheless, most cities would decend into anarchy

in only 48 hours without a constant supply

The Industrial Revolution saw a mass migration

then had to develop increasingly intensive farming methods

to meet the food requirements of urban dwellers

Canals, railways and roads allowed the first industrial cities

to be supplied with their daily nutrition.

dependant not just on the complex transport infrastruture,

As a consequence, today, every calorie we eat

also requires the consumption of 10 calories of oil.

this addiction of the modern city to petroleum

There are, however, possibilities that the farm

So called 'vertical farming' could involve multi-tiered city farms

Such stacks of artificial fields would allow city dwellers

to harvest crops all year round in areas without available land.

the energy required for food transportation,

would lower crop loss associated with shipping and storage,

One vertical farm could potentially feed 50,000 people.

However, even before the construction of such massive projects,

laws could be passed requiring all new buildings in large cities

to have at least some space dedicated to food production.

For example, new apartment blocks could be required to include

In addition to food, all cities currenly require significant natural resources

including solar cells, rooftop wind turbines,

and methane power plants  fuelled from domestic rubbish

could see future cities becoming at least partly energy sufficient.

Micro power generation may even extend to piezo-electric paving slabs

to generate electricity from our footsteps,

as well as hydraulic plates in road surfaces

that would generate power as vehicles drive over them.

In addition to producing at least some of their own food and power,

future cities will also have to use fresh water far more efficiently.

In part this is because treating and transporting fresh water is energy intensive.

However, half of the world's population now live in countries

Future cities will therefore need to capture

and recycle water whenever this is possible.

Future food, energy and water supplies are at best uncertain.

The global population of city dwellers also continues to increase.

Future cities will there have to become leaner and more self-sufficient.

For more information, please see ExplainingTheFuture.com.

And remember, the future is in your hands.