How green is your city? And how do you know?
Suppose a real-estate developer in Manhattan is constructing a new office building, and the architect decides to use granite as a primary material. There is a good chance the granite will come from a quarry in Minais Gerais, in southeastern Brazil. From there, it may well be shipped to Carrara, in northern Italy, where much high-grade stone is processed into building-ready form. Then the granite will be shipped to New York, although some of it may be rejected, leading to new rounds of cutting, shipping, and inspections on three continents.In short, a whole lot of carbon emissions have been produced in the service of that impressive new skyscraper in New York. Such an example is “cautionary,” as Paulo Ferrão and John Fernandez write in their new book about making cities more environmentally sustainable. It suggests, they observe, “the ease with which one individual, a well-educated modern professional, can set forth...