A newsletter editorial and compilation of articles on the future of cities

1. 1
“The
future will
only
contain
what we
put in it
now”
PHOTOGRAPH: MITCHELL JOACHIM/TERREFORM ONE IN THIS ISSUE
How do you Envision the City of the
Future? by Nayla Fakhoury
There are many criteria that
define and categorize a city among which:
its population size, its transportation
system, its use of resources and
communication system, and its
infrastructure. When asked to envision the
city of the future, we can only look at the
past and the present to determine the
upcoming developments.
We know for a fact that the
population size of cities is not shrinking.
In the 1900, the world’s largest city was
London with a population of around 6.5
million, today we have more than 29
cities with a population above 10 million
and the number is expected to double
within 30 years raising many alarms,
especially knowing that natural resources
are limited and cities are already having
trouble managing their current
populations. Leaving us to question, How
will the cities of the future adapt to its
overpopulation?
Tackling issues of transportation,
resources and communication, cities that
want to move forward and avoid future
disasters will have to be “Smart Cities”,
which are Cities that will have to find
solutions for when the time comes and not
settle to being technologically oriented.
How will they manage the housing of
their population when it doubles?
How will they replace sources of energy
when it becomes scarce? How will they
handle communication? How will they
manage all the waste generated?
Some countries have started
building from scratch “Smart Cities” for a
future that hasn’t arrived yet such as
Songdo City in South Korea or Masdar
City in UAE, cities that rely on
sustainable resources, become eco-
friendly etc… while others are facing the
challenge of how to transform and adapt
their currently built cities into becoming
smart ones.
The above transformation will
underline the survivability of a city,
however what about the cities that will
not be able to afford to move forward or
that will be lagging behind, will they
survive? Will they still exist naturally?
Will they merge with neighboring
megacities? We will leave the politics of
“Un-Smart” cities aside for now…
In this newsletter I have compiled
a series of articles that will help us
envision how some scientists and cities
are reacting to the alarms that have been
risen and started their transformation into
“Smart Cities”. After all quoting Darren
Anderson “The future will only contain
what we put in it now”.
The Mega City of the
Future…
The concentration of inhabitants,
buildings and infrastructures is rising
exponentially as available space
continues to shrink.
Page #2
Energy Generating
Pavement
A 20 square meter array of our award-
winning V3 technology is the center piece
of what has been billed the ‘world’s first
smart street’.
Page #3

2. 1
A number of companies and
designers are already experimenting with
food-based materials for construction.
In 2014, MoMA used 10,000
bricks constructed from mushrooms to
build an experimental tower. But it
doesn't stop there.
The Thai company Kokoboard is
using waste material from sunflower
crops to produce non-toxic, high-strength
boards that can be used for floors,
ceilings, and internal walls. And in the
leather-replacement space, Ananas Anam,
a British startup, is using pineapples to
make upholster-worthy leather
substitutes.”
Could food waste be used as a
construction material to build our cities
of the future? by Tessa Love
Image: Eduard Korniyenko
“About half of all
the food produced in
the world ends up in
the trash.”
“There are already 29 megacities
and the number is growing fast. The
concentration of inhabitants, buildings
and infrastructures is rising exponentially
as available space continues to shrink.
Many of these cities are located in
low-lying coastal regions, which are
especially vulnerable to the effects of
extreme weather and climate change. At
the same time, life expectancy is
increasing in many regions in the world;
above all in Asia.
In 2030, 15% of the world’s
population will be older than 60. This
trend is also taking place in megacities.
Allianz addresses the implications
of these developments and describes the
role of insurance. Theis explains, “As
living conditions in large metropolises
change, so do the needs of their
inhabitants and we, as insurers, are going
to have to meet them. For example, in the
case of managing the risk of natural
catastrophes or supporting infrastructure
projects.””
The Mega city of the Future
is Smart by Alianz SE
“29 and counting: The
number of megacities with
more than 10 million
inhabitants is expected to
grow to over 40 by 2030.”
https://www.allianz.com/en/press/
news/studies/151130_the-
megacity-of-the-future-is-smart/
“About half of all the food
produced in the world ends up in the
trash, accounting for about 60 million
tons of food. Applying circular thinking
to this issue in conjunction with
construction waste could mean pouring
less produce into landfills while
simultaneously making building materials
that are recyclable to keep construction
waste out of dumps. Meanwhile, some
materials could be grown like crops,
eliminating excess waste entirely.
In their report The Urban Bio
Loop, the engineering firm sees our future
buildings made from pineapples, potatoes,
mushrooms, corn, oranges, bananas and
more.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda
/2017/11/could-food-waste-be-
used-as-a-construction-material-
to-build-our-cities-of-the-future

3. 3
Sustainability
 Smart lighting:
Intelligent and weather adaptive
street lights to boost energy
efficiency.
 Smart waste management:
Monitoring garbage levels in
containers in real-time to optimize
collection routes.
 Smart grids:
Energy consumption monitoring and
management. Uses tech to detect
and react to local changes in usage.”
The launch also coincides with
release of our app, which rewards
people for their footsteps via the tribal
Planet Citizen Earth platform.
Pavegen is accompanying
Airlabs, an air cleaning bench and
Airlite whose paint removes VOC;s
and NOx emissions from the air,
which has been applied to pop-up
shopping pods.
The street which has been
transformed from a forgotten side road
into an attractive and healthier oasis
has really caught the imagination of
local communities.
Energy-Genrating Pavement Just
became a reality in London
“Pavegen unveils
world’s first
energy-harvesting
Smart Street in
London”
Since November 2010, Masdar City
has been operating a personal rapid
transit (PRT) system, which has now
carried more than 2 million passengers
between its two stations without a
single accident or injury. System
availability and vehicle reliability
consistently exceed 99.6% and 99.9%
respectively.
The Cities of the
Future are going to
look very Different.
Here's why… by Jeff
Desjardins
by Name Style
“Cities are the engines of modern
society. They power the global economy,
consume vast amounts of resources, house
the majority of the world’s population,
and create much of the pollution and
emissions that have scientists concerned
about the future.
The arrival of the Internet of
Things (IoT) – thanks to innovations in
cheap sensor technology, big data, and
predictive analytics – is making it
possible to tackle all sorts of urban issues.
Integrating this, along with other
advancements in information
communication technology (ICT), into
urban planning is the vision for smart
cities. Here are some of the initiatives
taken on by the people running the
smartest cities today:
 Smart roads:
Monitoring vehicle and pedestrian
levels to optimize or divert traffic
according to conditions. Intelligent,
adaptive fast and slow lanes for
walking and cycling.
 Smart buildings:
Rooftop gardens or vegetation on
sides of buildings to help with
insulation. Optimization of heating,
energy usage, lighting, and
ventilation.
photovoltaics and wind turbines into
building designs.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda
/2017/09/this-is-how-the-worlds-
smartest-cities-are-being-built
“On June 29 Pavegen launched
its latest installation at Bird Street,
which runs off Oxford Street, the
busiest shopping site in Europe.
Commissioned by the New
West End Company and Transport for
London, a 20 square meter array of our
award-winning V3 technology is the
centre piece of what has been billed the
‘world’s first smart street’.
The kinetic energy of visitor’s
footsteps is being converted into
electricity to power bird sounds during
the day and a lighting display at night.
http://www.pavegen.com/bird-
street/

4. 4
Malmo City- FLICKR, LA CITTA VITA
Songdo City- Jeffrey Tripp/Flickr
Transportation at Masdar- Personal rapid transit (PRT) system
Since November 2010,
Masdar City has been operating a
personal rapid transit (PRT) system,
which has now carried more than 2
million passengers between its two
stations without a single accident or
injury. System availability and vehicle
reliability consistently exceed 99.6%
and 99.9% respectively.
“The low-carbon development
of Masdar City has an integral role in
transforming Abu Dhabi’s economy
from an oil foundation to one with a
knowledge and innovation base. It
serves as a centralized test bed for
global renewable energy and
technology companies.”
“Through smart investments, Masdar
City is successfully pioneering a
“greenprint” for how cities can
accommodate rapid urbanization and
dramatically reduce energy, water and
waste”
MASDAR CITY
Smart Cities Examples
SONGDO CITY
0% Carbon City
“Songdo International
Business District in South Korea is a
prime example of a new city that
brings together the world’s best
technologies, building design and eco-
friendly practices to create the ultimate
lifestyle and work experience. Built
from the ground up on reclaimed land
near the Yellow Sea, the $35-billion-
dollar Songdo project is a model for
smart cities around the globe.
In addition to the widespread
implementation of the U.S. Green
Building Council’s LEED™ standard,
MALMO CITY
40% of the city has been set aside as
green public space. Songdo offers
residents, visitors, and businesses an
idyllic and sustainable place in which
to live, work, and play.
South Korea was exporting its
smart city project into Kuwait. In
Kuwait, LH will build a four billion
dollar project. The name of the city
will be South Saad”
Sustainability
“Malmo, Sweden, for
example, used to be a polluted
industrial center that was home to
nuclear power plants. Since 2000,
however, city officials have closed
both plants and pledged to make
Malmo both carbon neutral by 2020
and able to run on entirely renewable
energy by 2030. By the end of this
year, they also expect Malmo's fleet
http://smartcityhub.com/urban-
planning-and-building/songdo-
model-of-the-smart-and-
sustainable-city-of-the-future/
of municipal vehicles to run on either
hydrogen, electricity or biogas, the
latter of which is created from
mandatorily collected food waste.”
http://mashable.com/2015/03/05
/future-cities/#lDYyhqfC.sqI
www.masdar.ae