After our class discussion about green cities today, I was eager to do some further research on the topic. Estimates show that about 70% of the planet is likely to be an urban center by 2050. Cities already account for 55% of the world population, 80% of all energy use, and the most emissions of greenhouse gases. This begs the question of how cities might be able to balance the needs to be both economically dynamic and environmentally responsible. It appears that many cities are better at one aspect than another, such as US cities being economically dynamic and not very environmentally conscious.
I found an index of sustainable cities by Arcadis, a Dutch design group. It is based on data sets under people, planet, and profit categories. This index ranks Frankfurt, London, and Copenhagen as the top three cities, and the US cities do not appear until the fifteenth slot with Boston. I found the infographic below quite interesting after today’s class period.
http://www.sustainablecitiesindex.com/