Water Is the Issue in Cities of the Future

A few weeks ago, Christopher Lydon’s Radio Open Source (in-depth public radio talk show) discussed The Cities of the Future. The discussion began with the History Channel’s challenge to architects and engineers to design the U.S. cities of the 22nd century. Jumping off from their historically-oriented Engineering an Empire, the History Channel asked designers to create cities of 100 years in the future (2106) informed by the engineering leaps of the past. Winners have been chosen for Los Angeles (”multiply the purposes” of existing infrastructure), Chicago (focus on water recycling), and New York (”vanes” built over flooded streets). Voting ended over the weekend to chose a winner among the three, to be announced next month.

What strikes me about all of these cities of the future is the focus on water. The earliest cities we know of in human history grew near major waterways. Water in place was necessary first for agriculture, then for transportation. Thousands of years later, these major U.S. cities were also built near water. What will change in 100 years? The assumption is either that there will be too much water (due to rising sea levels due to global warming) or too little (due to changing weather patterns spreading deserts).

All of the winning designs assume climate change. Most of us assume climate change. With the release last week of the UN report “Climate Change 2007″ from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, more people are acknowledging the reality of what is happening around us. Headlines on the report scream:

• worrying report
• wrenching change
• shock the world
• calls for drastic, speedy change
• millions to go hungry, waterless
• warming to continue for centuries
• raise seas for 1,000 years

.

And, yet, some still find the report:

• too rosy

.
Who isn’t yet acknowledging the inevitability of climate change? The executive branch of the U.S. government, of course. Climate scientists report pressure to change or suppress what they find. The Bush administration and their friends in the energy industry don’t find climate change in their best interest (except when melting ice reveals more land for energy exploration). The American Enterprise Institute (funded by ExxonMobil) are willing to pay scientists to speak out against the new climate change study, continuing the policy of Exxon and other energy companies of spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) to confuse the public.

In the future, water will be our issue. Those of us in the desert already understand water is an issue, but we can expect worse than we can imagine. I don’t think the technological utopias created by vanes above New York City or repuposing highways of Los Angeles are the answer. I think the water recycling greenways of future Chicago give us the best chance of survival.

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