A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Green Dreams: Regenerating Cities Through Nature
In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population was living in cities and metropolises; this figure is expected to grow by 2030 to a total of five billion inhabitants concentrated in the major built-up urban areas. It is a mind-boggling growth in which the urban system is a centralising force that is revolutionising consumption models in terms of both quality and quantity, where our cities—consolidated places of community living, one of the highest expressions of human society, with their wealth of knowledge, creativity and innovation capacity—are amongst the main causes of territorial consumption, pollution and, ultimately, climate change.
Technological innovation has long symbolised the role of modernisation and economic development, but it has also contributed to increasing the separation between private development goals and safeguarding public assets, and this breakdown of balance is responsible somehow of the current crisis.
The challenge awaiting us is a radical change of course, for a re-convergence of the balance that technology alone does not seem to be able to fill. Starting from a framework that the data show as little disputable, useful innovation no longer coincides with that which concerns exclusively techniques, production processes and products and, more generally, the production of only economic value.
The importance of recovering traditional, innovative and sustainable agricultural practices, especially for the local communities of the marginal areas of the cities, fits into this gap. The vast disparity of agricultural conditions and systems between private sectors and local communities makes it necessary to intervene by increasing public and private investments for sustainable agriculture, managed by the local community for the management of uncultivated land and within a synergetic framework of systems in co-evolution.
Both natural outdoor areas and agricultural elements such as urban allotments and gardens have in all contexts a strong adaptation and sustainability potential being versatile and simple to integrate, and are known to provide opportunities for interactions that enhance public health and well-being.
Green Dreams: Regenerating Cities Through Nature
In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population was living in cities and metropolises; this figure is expected to grow by 2030 to a total of five billion inhabitants concentrated in the major built-up urban areas. It is a mind-boggling growth in which the urban system is a centralising force that is revolutionising consumption models in terms of both quality and quantity, where our cities—consolidated places of community living, one of the highest expressions of human society, with their wealth of knowledge, creativity and innovation capacity—are amongst the main causes of territorial consumption, pollution and, ultimately, climate change.
Technological innovation has long symbolised the role of modernisation and economic development, but it has also contributed to increasing the separation between private development goals and safeguarding public assets, and this breakdown of balance is responsible somehow of the current crisis.
The challenge awaiting us is a radical change of course, for a re-convergence of the balance that technology alone does not seem to be able to fill. Starting from a framework that the data show as little disputable, useful innovation no longer coincides with that which concerns exclusively techniques, production processes and products and, more generally, the production of only economic value.
The importance of recovering traditional, innovative and sustainable agricultural practices, especially for the local communities of the marginal areas of the cities, fits into this gap. The vast disparity of agricultural conditions and systems between private sectors and local communities makes it necessary to intervene by increasing public and private investments for sustainable agriculture, managed by the local community for the management of uncultivated land and within a synergetic framework of systems in co-evolution.
Both natural outdoor areas and agricultural elements such as urban allotments and gardens have in all contexts a strong adaptation and sustainability potential being versatile and simple to integrate, and are known to provide opportunities for interactions that enhance public health and well-being.
Green Dreams: Regenerating Cities Through Nature
Innovative Renewable Energy
Sayigh, Ali (editor) / Trombadore, Antonella (editor) / Battisti, Alessandra (author)
2021-07-24
16 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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