Rethinking Cities | Documentary
Summary
TLDRThis script explores the dynamic nature of cities as living organisms and economic powerhouses, highlighting their role in fostering knowledge and innovation. It discusses the historical evolution of cities and the challenges of urbanization, including social, economic, and environmental issues. The speaker emphasizes the importance of cities in shaping a sustainable and prosperous future, the role of academic institutions in driving urban development, and the need for collaborative efforts to address global crises and create inclusive, resilient, and vibrant urban environments.
Takeaways
- 🌏 Earth's population is predominantly urban, with over half residing in cities, which are dynamic and ever-changing entities.
- 🏙️ Cities are likened to living organisms that serve as engines for economic growth and knowledge development within societies.
- 🤝 Cities are melting pots for diverse ideas and opportunities, acting as hubs for human communities in the 21st century.
- 🔑 The role of cities in shaping societal progress is more critical today than ever before, reflecting the challenges and potential solutions of the century.
- 🏭 Historically, cities have been central to change, evolving from agricultural settlements to industrial and knowledge-based communities.
- 📈 The Industrial Revolution marked a significant shift with mass migration to cities and the recognition of knowledge's role in economic prosperity.
- 🌊 Cities, occupying a small percentage of land, are often located near water and are growing rapidly, becoming central to modern societies.
- 🌡️ Cities face numerous challenges, including space constraints, poor living conditions, and inadequate access to services for a growing population.
- 📊 By 2050, the UN predicts that 70% of the world's population will be urban, exacerbating issues of poverty, infrastructure, and services.
- 🌱 The concept of prosperity is evolving, with a new emphasis on growth that is green, fair, and respectful of nature, rather than resource exploitation.
- 🏛️ Universities and academic institutions are vital to the future of cities, providing research, innovation, and education to address and adapt to global challenges.
Q & A
What is the current global population and how many people live in cities?
-The global population is over 7.8 billion, with more than half of these inhabitants living in cities.
How are cities described in the context of economic and social development?
-Cities are described as living organisms that function as powerhouses of economic growth and develop the wealth of knowledge of societies, serving as melting pots for diverse trajectories and ideas.
What role do cities play in the 21st century in terms of human progress?
-Cities play a fundamental role in shaping human progress, reflecting the challenges faced by humanity and serving as spaces where making a difference is possible.
How have cities historically been at the core of change?
-Historically, cities have been at the core of change by emerging around rivers and fertile land with the discovery of agriculture, and later consolidating as trade centers and focal points of political and religious power.
What was the impact of the Industrial Revolution on cities and migration patterns?
-The Industrial Revolution marked a turning point with massive migrations from the countryside to the city, shifting from agricultural and rural communities to industrial, service, and knowledge communities.
What percentage of land do cities occupy and where are most cities located?
-Cities occupy about 2% of the land, with most being located on coastal areas or near water.
What are the challenges faced by cities today in terms of space and living environments?
-Cities face challenges such as not having enough space, low quality of living environments, and difficulties in providing access to certain services for a growing population.
According to the United Nations, what is the projected percentage of the world's population living in urban settlements by 2050?
-The United Nations predicts that by 2050, 70% of the world's population will live in urban settlements.
What is the significance of the term 'informal settlements' in the context of urbanization?
-Informal settlements, also known as slums or favelas, are areas where about 25% of the world's population lives, representing a significant and growing problem in urbanization.
How do mayors from around the world collaborate to address climate change and other global challenges?
-Mayors collaborate through initiatives like C40, sharing ideas and seeking support to accelerate climate actions and make cities healthier and more equitable.
What is the role of academic institutions in the development and future of cities?
-Academic institutions are key in researching interactions, nurturing talent, and providing knowledge that can make real differences in the way cities work, addressing global and local problems.
Why is the concept of 'good neighbor' important for universities in relation to cities?
-The concept of 'good neighbor' is important because it emphasizes the idea of collaboration, with universities going beyond their boundaries to integrate research and knowledge into the community and local reality.
What is the significance of the phrase 'there's no planet B' in the context of urban development?
-The phrase 'there's no planet B' signifies the urgency and importance of doing urban development right here on Earth, as there is no alternative planet for us to inhabit and develop.
Outlines
🌏 The Evolution and Impact of Cities
This paragraph discusses the dynamic nature of cities as living organisms that are central to economic growth and societal knowledge. It highlights the historical development of cities from agricultural settlements to major trade and political centers, and the shift towards a knowledge-based economy. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of cities in addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges of the 21st century, and their role in shaping the future. It also touches on the rapid urbanization and the issues faced by cities, particularly in the developing world, such as informal settlements and inadequate infrastructure.
🌱 The Role of Cities in Sustainable Development
The second paragraph focuses on the global agendas related to urbanization and the challenges cities face, such as combating climate change and improving living conditions. It underscores the importance of local actions and the collaboration between mayors worldwide to address these issues. The paragraph also discusses the concept of cities as ecosystems and the need for co-creation between different sectors, including public institutions, academic institutions, and the private sector. It provides examples of innovative projects, such as the 'Koele Plekken Checker' and the autonomous boat 'Roboat', illustrating how cities are rethinking and redesigning themselves for a more prosperous and sustainable future.
🏛 The Vital Role of Universities in Urban Prosperity
This paragraph explores the significance of academic institutions in the future of cities, particularly in the context of climate change and knowledge-based development. It highlights the role of universities in research, innovation, and education, and how they contribute to the prosperity of cities by nurturing talent and fostering creativity. The paragraph also discusses the historical examples of cities that have developed around universities and the importance of universities being good neighbors by aligning their research with the needs of the community and contributing to the local reality.
🌐 Universities as Catalysts for Urban Innovation
The final paragraph emphasizes the potential of academic institutions to be good neighbors and the importance of collaboration in the strength of a city. It discusses the role of universities as knowledge transporters and translators, bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and its implementation in local reality. The paragraph also stresses the need for universities to conduct research within the city to improve the quality and usefulness of their outcomes, and the importance of nurturing talent to think critically and solve global and local problems. It concludes with the idea that universities have a leadership role in shaping a prosperous society by contributing to the rethinking of cities.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Cities
💡Urbanization
💡Economic Growth
💡Knowledge Communities
💡Sustainability
💡Inclusive Cities
💡Climate Change
💡Academic Institutions
💡Innovation
💡Resilience
💡Mobility
Highlights
Planet Earth is home to over 7.8 billion people, with more than half living in cities.
Cities are dynamic organisms that drive economic growth and societal knowledge development.
The 21st-century cities are melting pots of diverse ideas and opportunities.
Cities reflect the social, economic, and environmental challenges of the 21st century.
Urban areas are fundamental in shaping societal progress and are seen as the future.
Historical cities were built around resources like rivers, harbors, and mines.
The modern economy values sophisticated use of resources over their mere presence.
The Industrial Revolution marked a shift from rural to urban living and economic models.
Cities occupy only 2% of land, yet are centers of societal activity, especially near water.
Cities are ecosystems of layered systems and networks fostering new ideas.
By 2050, 70% of the world's population is predicted to live in urban areas.
Rapid urbanization leads to issues like poor neighborhoods and inadequate infrastructure.
A significant portion of the world's population lives in informal settlements, posing a major challenge.
Cities are central to global agendas, including combating climate change.
Local actions in cities are crucial for implementing global agreements on climate change.
Mayors worldwide collaborate to share urban initiatives and seek support for climate actions.
Cities require joint decision-making by local stakeholders for effective management.
Academic institutions are vital for driving knowledge-based development in cities.
Universities play a key role in researching and addressing urban health and lifestyle issues.
Cities and universities co-evolve, with universities often at the heart of urban innovation.
Universities are seen as knowledge transporters and translators, bridging scientific findings with local implementation.
The role of universities extends to nurturing talent and fostering critical thinking in students.
Cities must constantly adapt and flex to remain vibrant and productive.
Transcripts
This is planet Earth,
home to over 7.8 billion people.
More than half of the inhabitants live in what we call cities.
Cities can be seen as living organisms in constant change
and transformation. Organisms that function as the powerhouse
of economic growth while developing the wealth of knowledge of our world's
societies. Cities are the melting pot for different trajectories
and ideas, places for opportunities, dreams and connections.
The great human communities of the 21st century.
Places where the diverse can co-exist and where, if we look carefully,
we can see an enormous amount of small stories and narratives
managing to find their own place and voice.
But cities are also a good reflection
of the challenges we face as human beings in this century.
Social, economic and environmental challenges.
Therefore, the cities of today play a more fundamental role
in shaping our progress than ever before.
Cities are the future.
A space where making a difference is possible.
So how will the current knowledge impact the cities of the future?
What institutions are at the forefront of ideas and proposals
that can lead us to more prosperous societies?
Throughout history, cities have been at the core of change.
With the discovery of agriculture,
the first settlements emerged around rivers and fertile land.
Little by little, in strategic territories such as port areas,
they began to consolidate themselves as important trade centers
and also focal points of political and religious power.
There was a time when cities were built
around riverways, around harbors,
around mines, or oil fields.
Now, the type
of economy requires less of those resources.
What's more important is the ability to do more sophisticated
things with what we have.
The arrival of the Industrial Revolution marked a turning point
and the beginning of massive migrations from the countryside to the city.
The role of knowledge in
economic development has been a constant throughout history.
The big leap in prosperity and economic prosperity, at the very least,
that happened in the Industrial Revolution.
Since then, a large part of our territories has been slowly transformed.
We have shifted from agricultural and rural communities
into industrial, service, and knowledge communities.
Cities occupy about 2% of the land, and most of cities
are located on coastal areas or they're located near water.
Cities are growing very fast and becoming the center of today's societies.
So what makes a city today?
I would say a city offers facilities not only to the place itself,
but also to the wider region in terms of health or in terms of education,
in terms of innovation, and other types of services.
We can think of cities as ecosystems.
There are many systems layered on top of each other.
It's a group of networks that comes together.
It's where the new ideas occur.
What the great human communities of this century have in common is the ability
to use knowledge to drive society forward, using cities as their engines.
Cities face many challenges, like not having enough space,
having low quality of living environments,
and also these challenges that you have
when a lot of people need access to certain services.
According to the United Nations predictions by 2050,
70% of the world's population will live in urban settlements.
This rapid urbanization is increasing the number of poor neighborhoods
and inadequate infrastructures and services.
What worries me most are cities in the developing world.
About 25% of the world's population
lives in informal settlements and what we call slums or favelas.
And this is a huge problem that's only going
to get worse.
The challenges of urban societies and the role
that cities will play in our future
world are part of the global agendas of the United Nations.
The challenge of fighting against the effects of climate change
affects decision making in areas in which most of the world's cities
have policy-making capacity.
These include energy, buildings, waste management, and mobility.
But these important global agreements depend largely on local actions
in cities.
Mayors from around the world are coming together
to share initiatives and ask for more support.
As Chair of
C40, I have the privilege of collaborating with mayors worldwide
to accelerate our bold climate actions and do everything
possible to make our cities healthier and more equitable.
The decisions about
the kinds of cities we want, and their day-to-day management,
need to be made jointly by a combination of local stakeholders.
We know that climate change is already affecting
seven out of every 10 cities and that it's happening at the urban level.
It's very important to be able to provide a platform for
the exchange of ideas so that we can talk about
how to solve crises together: the climate crisis, the health crisis,...
the economic crisis, and the social crisis.
Knowledge and information can guide us to find
the right ways in a rapidly changing world.
They can also help find quick and accurate responses
to the challenges of the present and the future.
It becomes more and more important to look for synergies, synergies
among public institutions, academic institutions, and the private sector.
We know that no one part of the city can operate on its own
and solve all the problems.
Co-creation between different sectors and taking into account
citizens' views is crucial in finding metropolitan solutions.
Municipality, citizens,
research institutions, and other stakeholders,
together, should find the way to make cities inclusive, safe,
prosperous, resilient, and sustainable.
So an example of a project that we work on at the AMS Institute, jointly
with the Municipality of Amsterdam is the 'Koele Plekken Checker' in Dutch.
It's really a map of where and which temperatures are during summertime.
So where are basically the cool areas where you would want to be
if we have hot summers, which we increasingly have.
But one example that comes to mind is the city
of Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom.
Now, Milton Keynes was a planned city, so it started out
as being a completely new place that was built in the mid-20th century.
And of course, like many cities or like almost
all of them, it has grown and changed over the years.
And nowadays it has many of the problems
that are facing major urban centers,
but they've approached that with the academic institution looking
especially at mobility, and the needs of mobility,
working with technology companies to find the most efficient way
to understand and then program mobility.
And of course, working with the government and the local city administration
to implement those new policies and new services.
I would say also one is a project that we work on jointly with MIT,
which is called Roboat, and it's an autonomous boat. It can go autonomous
through the city,
it can also carry passengers, but it could also carry waste if it's connected
also to computers of
waste bin, for example. The city also started thinking about
how we can use this roboat, and in this way, you really feed each other
with ideas and solutions and bring it to the next level.
Cities grow in size and number,
and they need to be rethought, redesigned,
reimagined.
Cities can lead us towards more prosperous societies.
What does that mean exactly?
Prosperity is the ability of a society
to continually advance
the potential that people living there have. A more prosperous society
is able to push these boundaries of human potential for everyone.
Until now, prosperity has always been linked to limitless
economic growth. For me, prosperity has to be decoupled
from economic growth based on the plundering of natural resources.
We need growth that is green, that is fair, and that is specifically
based on the principles of respect for nature.
So I think a prosperous and healthy city is a city
that that provides a good living environment, a green area,
an area with space for everyone, and it's also socially inclusive. Healthy
cities to me, or prosperous cities, are multifunctional.
We have to look at them being fair, having opportunities
for people, striving for goals of equality.
But also a prosperous city
needs to take care of the physical needs of its residents.
It needs to look at education, at health.
They need to be able to breathe clean air, to travel easily,
and not have to travel long distances to meet basic needs.
Access to housing
and transportation, the availability of jobs and education,
as well as the consolidation of diverse and inclusive communities.
This is what it takes for a city to truly thrive in our ever-changing world.
Academic institutions are key
to working with cities in the future.
When we look at something like climate change, it's a totally new field.
We don't have a history.
We don't have trends that we can look back on. Universities,
I think, are the natural resource of the 21st century
in the sense of the importance of what they deliver,
which is train people, as well as innovations
in terms of research.
Indeed, knowledge and learning are the greatest renewable resources
available to humanity, and we can use them to face the challenges of today.
Universities, as the main higher education centers, play
a very important role in integrating the work of knowledge-based development.
The role of universities is, of course, to research interactions.
We don't know always what is causing what, and that's very important
to find solutions.
What is the reason that people in cities are sometimes less healthy?
Their environment is not inviting them to go outside, for example,
or to eat healthy food?
Or is it because the type of jobs and activities
related to those jobs don't allow them to have a healthy lifestyle?
Our role is to put the questions on the table for debate.
We see lots of changes in the way we live in cities.
So I think in that sense, we do have a great responsibility
of trying to understand what are the key issues of the future.
And that's where I think an academic institution has
a responsibility to be a good neighbor.
Universities can offer a door to cutting-edge knowledge,
and to new concepts that can make real differences in the way our world works.
There is a large gap between the decisions that are made
at a high level in multilateral institutions like the United Nations,
and how they are translated into the local reality
of different countries, of different cities.
I strongly believe that universities have a great role to play there.
And the third very important aspect is, of course, nurturing talent
or educating people
to allow them to learn how to think in a critical way, to ask questions,
to think of solutions, to think out of the box,
and also to use that in the right way.
Universities undoubtedly provide knowledge,
but they are also places where young people embrace new ideas,
hobbies, friendships, and opportunities.
Another thing that universities bring to the city is a kind of ecosystem.
There is research happening.
People want to join, want to collaborate, want to know about their findings.
For example,
we have Wageningen University here in the Netherlands, which is very much
focused on food, food production and the quality of the environment.
But because of all the research that's been done there,
there are a lot of startups, there are a lot of students
with the right education, the right skills. The development of cities today
goes hand-in-hand with the generation of more and better-qualified jobs,
with the access to talented resources and with a faster increase in wealth.
So there's lots of historical
examples of cities that have developed around universities.
So we could talk about Paris, we could talk about Oxford and Cambridge.
But one example that has been heavily studied is the area of Ithaca
around Cornell University in New York, which is interesting because it's
very similar to post-industrial cities that grew a lot in the 19th century.
But unlike other places, they had a legacy of a university,
that was Cornell, that has enabled it to be more prosperous
than others that are comparable. Others also in recent times,
such as the Silicon Valley,
that was basically built around Stanford University.
Universities nurture the key ingredients for innovation,
acquiring new knowledge, comparing ideas,
fostering creativity, and seeking solutions to global and local problems.
And so I think if we're looking to innovation
and people coming together, thinking outside of the box,
the most appropriate place would be an academic institution.
Academic institutions have enormous potential to be good neighbors.
The concept of good neighbor to me means going beyond the boundaries.
And it's based on the idea of collaboration as the strength of a city.
Universities are an important part of a community.
So they need to carry out
research for it, which many times involves studying the community itself.
Universities have to be fairly closely aligned with what's going on around them.
We create knowledge, and that new knowledge that we create
is especially important for cities,
because we don't have all the answers
about what is a prosperous, healthy future city.
We have to do the research to find out, to share
and create that new knowledge that will make our cities
more sustainable, more resilient, and more vibrant.
Transcending all ages and challenges,
our cities like any other living organism,
must constantly flex and adapt to avoid fading away.
The impact of knowledge and the role of education
are keys to rethinking cities, so that they can remain the colorful,
vibrant, productive, and thriving centers that billions of us call home.
The currency of cities is knowledge, right?
So what they do is bring knowledge together.
The point of cities is to create and then expand
knowledge more easily
than could be done if it wasn't so close.
For me, universities play the role of knowledge transporters
and of knowledge translators in many cases.
I see them as a bridge between scientific knowledge and
the implementation of this knowledge in local reality.
Let's not forget that universities are, in many cases
training the people who will build cities in a few years.
For universities to have a good contribution to a prosperous society,
is by doing research with and within
the city, go in the city and work with the city.
Because it will improve the quality
of your research and it also will improve the usefulness of the outcomes.
The knowledge with the research, with the debate that we can do together.
That's the only way that we'll be able to tackle those problems.
I like the phrase "there's no planet B".
We either do it right here.
There's no alternative.
Universities have a leadership role because they can imbue
these ideas, this debate, into everything that they do.
Let's hope they do it.
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