A more climate-oriented New Urbanism is needed, author says
New Urbanism, though beneficial, is not enough to solve the world's resource problems, suggests Tigran Haas, a professor in Stockholm and Berkeley who has edited a hefty, illustrated collection of essays called Sustainable Urbanism and Beyond. We need "a New Urbanism that stands for a climate-oriented, socially balanced city,” Haas says, to “avoid the looming environmental disaster.” David Owen's 2009 book Green Metropolis extolled the environmental efficiency of cities like New York. Haas warns, however, that poor rural people with low ecological footprints are moving to cities in droves, and urban regions are “the main aggregate source of environmental degradation on the planet.” Urbanist Peter Calthorpe argues for combining efficient buildings, well-located transit-oriented development, and planning at a variety of levels. As he sees it, “only a whole systems approach, with each scale nesting into the other, can deliver the kind of transformation we now need to confront climate change.” The complete review is published in the September issue of Better! Cities & Towns.
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