Earthsky Interviews
Mitchell Joachim says in building a sustainable city, location is everything
11-08-2008 - Human World
Architect and urban planner Mitchell Joachim told EarthSky that – in making cities sustainable – location is everything.
Mitchell Joachim: It’s a little too nebulous to say that, ‘here’s a ton of money – please give me a city from scratch.’ A lot of it is based on where it is. For instance, on the moon or Mars. There you would develop a totally, radically different city than in the center of Colorado. And if we were to develop a city from scratch, what would that look like. So location would be first.
Second, you’d have to think about energy.
Mitchell Joachim: Energy would definitely be a big issue and how most of that energy could be sourced and be absolutely renewable. So we’d start with wind or harvesting rivers or solar situation we could make this whole city completely independent of coal power or nuclear and run it on renewables.
Joachim said that there are many cities that stand as examples of ecologically sound urban development. For example, New York City…
Mitchell Joachim: New York City is one fabulous example that we’re constantly learning from. Density, for instance, is an excellent thing about New York City, at least when it comes to the ecological and environmental implications. Also public transportation. Eight hundred miles of New York City subway. Granted, the infrastructure is slightly decrepit, but it’s still fantastic when it comes to mobility.
Our thanks to:
Mitchell Joachim
Columbia University
New York City, NY
I have to add two fantastic examples of urban foresight when it comes
to large urban centers. One would be in the U.S.and has been “Green”
long before it was accepted by the status quo, that is Portland, Oregon.
It enraged the private sector by building light rail right through the middle of downtown and whole corridor out to the suburbs.
The second out of the U.S. would be: Vancouver, Canada who has built their city with a protective zone of rivers, ocean, farms, parks and an abundance of trees, as well as an amazing array of public transportation alternatives. Sky trains, underground malls and above ground buses assist people everywhere! Model cities, as well as ironically, Chicago
who has worked very hard to dispel its image as a dirty, industrial anti-green zone. It has some of the most cutting edge ideas incorporated into its’ cities building materials, roads and urban infrastructure. Hooray to all of them for being leaders in changing their existing world for the better.