Future Cities

In Future Cities, three authors - futurists, urban experts and systems architects - consider how the demands of the 21st Century will reshape the places where half of the world's population lives. From the history of urban development to the challenges of climate change and terrorism, they show how technology advances have shaped cities and how the demands of urban living will drive major improvements in energy use, transportation, communications, public safety, security, and human welfare. They challenge policymakers to incorporate the new tools of urban development into their thinking - but even more importantly, to understand the urgent need for a new approach to economic growth, one that severs the ties between production and pollution, between urbanization and degraded quality of life, and between greater individual liberty and increased vulnerability to threat.