Sustaining the cities
More than half of the world’s 6 billion people now live in cities, those complex hives of activity that require intensive energy and complex governance. By 2050, that proportion is expected to rise to two-thirds of the world’s population. So it makes increasing sense to strive toward a sustainable model of urban life. The Working Group on Sustainable Cities at Harvard University, a nascent cluster of experts from the University’s design, business, health, and government communities, is working toward that end, and is ready to welcome voices from every discipline. Attending the group’s eighth private meeting last month (Sept. 14) were an authority on climate change, a public health scholar, a city planner, an architect, a political scientist, and even a professor of divinity. The group is meant to “focus our brain trust so we can immediately help,” said its originator, architect Martha Schwartz, adding that Europe is already 30 to 40...