The worlds population will top nine billion by 2060.Because of climate change induced environment degradation, scientist project that tens of millions of people will move into today"s small and medium-size cities.To prepare for the influx, say"s Dennis Frenchman, an architect and professor or urban planning at MIT ,city designers must make decisions today to mitigate the migration of tomorrow.And those decisions should focus on making system more efficient.
COMMUNITY-SHARED ELECTRIC CARS
Lots of people ,each with a private car,means lots of traffic,pollution and wasted space in the from of parking lots.The designers of the MIT Media Lab prototype City Car say Communal microcars will alleviate crowded roads.The two-seat, all-electric CityCar is best used for point-to-point trips with in a few-mile radius.When not in use, the car folds up and stacks together with other CityCars.
NEIGHBORHOOD NUKES
Power lines can lose up to 425 kilowatts per mile of cable.To reduce loss and keep energy prices lower, cities must integrate power generation into neighborhoods.One possible power source is a microsize nuclear power plant, such as GE Hitach"s PRISM.The PRIM"s reactors would use recycled nuclear fuel to generate 300 megawatts--enough to supply 240,000 homes.
HYPEREFFICIENT HOUSING
As more people crowd into cities, average apartment size will decrease,probably to about 300 square feet, Frenchman says.To make such a small area fell less cramped, every space in the must be multifunctional.For example, furniture could fold out of walls, and windows made from transparent OLEDs, like ones that Samsung first demonstrated in 2010,would serve as a TV or cloud be made opaque on command to reduce cooling costs.
REALLY LOCAL EATS
To keep food-transportation costs down, engineers should construct vertical farms,such as the ones proposed by Columbia University public-health professor emeritus Dickson Despommier, that could provide fresh produce and fish to local neighborhoods.Apartment residents will grow personals gardens on the facade of their building with pre-seeded panels plugged into built -in wall slots, says Kent Larson, an architect at the MIT Media Lab.
ALL-IN ONE RECYCLING
Recycling will limit material waste, but the process is energy-intensive. In the LO2P Recycling Center, envisioned by designers Gael Brule and Julien Combes, a turbine harnesses wind power to run a recycling plant in the building, While carbon dioxide from the plant reacts with calcium to become lime in the LO2P"s mineralization baths. Calera Corporation California developed the process and today uses the lomit to make cement
