How will our cities change?

In recent decades, cities have become spaces of tension and aspiration for their inhabitants. Various factors drive their constant evolution but also expose their vulnerability. What happened recently in Valencia, Spain, on October 30 caught the world’s attention: in a matter of minutes, the city experienced one of the largest weather disasters in its history. Such events, usually associated with rural areas, highlight the fact that climate hazards are also affecting urban centers in alarming ways.

Valencia was named European Green Capital 2024 on October 27, 2022. This recognition, awarded by the European Commission, highlights the city’s efforts in environmental sustainability and quality of life. The award highlights initiatives such as the creation and protection of green spaces – including the Albufera Natural Park and the Turia Gardens – as well as its advances in sustainable mobility and waste management. In addition, Valencia has been a pioneer in measuring and offsetting the carbon and water footprint of tourism and is one of 100 cities selected for the European Union’s Cities Mission project, which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. However, this tragedy calls into question the effectiveness of urban resilience “calculations” in the face of extreme events and underscores the need for more comprehensive and anticipatory planning.

The tragedy in Valencia was a powerful reminder of the reflections I shared in my lecture last Tuesday, 29 October, at the International Academic Congress of Architecture in Ecuador. Entitled ‘From Conceptualisation to Configuration: Urban Verticals and the Role of Technology’, I discussed how cities, once mainly political and ritual centers, have become economic engines and, more recently, sustainable and intelligent spaces. This transformation, while necessary, has increased the complexity of urban environments and requires integrative approaches that address their multiple dimensions.

Urban Biology by Patrick Geddes.: sees cities as living organisms in constant adaptation.

Complex Systems by Michael Batty: sees cities as networks of interdependent flows

From the industrial city to the smart city, urban planning has evolved from disorganised approaches to models that focus on resilience, sustainability and technology. However, the current climate crisis is exposing the limitations of technological systems and advanced remote sensing to mitigate large-scale events such as the one in Valencia. While communication systems and the impacts of climate change are evolving rapidly, policy, economy and society often fail to adapt as quickly. Our cities need processes that holistically integrate the complexity of their urban systems. For example, in cities where urban sprawl has occurred without adequate planning, such as in certain peripheral areas of Madrid, Rome  and Lisbon, infrastructure deficiencies hinder access to basic services. As living systems, cities require a holistic approach that addresses both their physical structure and their functionality to respond to their multiple challenges.

Reducing atmospheric emissions remains a challenge from the days of the industrial city to the present day. Balancing housing demand with sustainable urbanisation is a gap that began to open in the mid-20th century with the emergence of the welfare city. Thinking of the sustainable city as a response to environmental demands also raises debates about resource exploitation, inequality and ecological balance. We cannot change the climate, but we can reduce the impacts that accelerate the ‘urban metabolism’ of our built environments. 

Urban metabolism, a concept that describes how cities consume and process resources and emit waste, helps us to see cities as systems with flows of energy and materials.

I am constantly thinking about the need for a new conceptualization of our cities, an adaptive process that integrates and accompanies this ecological and environmental transition that we are already experiencing. This process must identify and articulate the essential elements for each urban context: culture, politics, citizenship, environment, economy and technology. Only by integrating these aspects will we be able to provide precise and effective responses to the specific challenges facing our cities.

How will our cities change?

๐–๐ž ๐ฆ๐š๐ฒ ๐›๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š ๐œ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ž-๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ฌ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐ฒ, ๐ฌ๐จ๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ซ๐›๐š๐ง ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ž๐ฌ. ๐–๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ž ๐œ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ. ๐€๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ “๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐š๐ ๐ž”, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐›๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐œ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ซ๐›๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง. ๐๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐ฅ๐จ๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง๐š๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐š๐ ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐œ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ž๐ง ๐ฌ๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐›๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐š ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ.

“As residents of these ever-changing cities, what can we do to promote more resilient and sustainable spaces?”

Sources: Book “The Condition of the Working Class in England” by Friedrich Engels; Book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs; Brundtland Report in 1987; Book “Adaptive Cities” by David Harvey.

This post has one comment

  1. Hola muy interesante articulo!

Deja un comentario

Start typing and press Enter to search