The Human City

Meanwhile, vertical farm experiments – which aim to augment urban food supplies by cultivating crops in skyscraper greenhouses – are proliferating from the American Midwest to Osaka, Japan. And India has become a leader in converting biomass and food waste into energy.

Of course, the billions of farmers and villagers worldwide should not be forgotten. Interventions like rural electrification, the provision of drought-resistant seeds and agricultural technology, and the expansion of micro-insurance are vital not only to rural populations’ welfare, but also to catalyze a new Green Revolution, without which city dwellers will face severe food shortages.

With new, innovative solutions appearing every day, the real challenge lies in bringing them to scale – and that requires international cooperation. But the smartest cities are not necessarily the most technologically advanced. Rather, they are the places where technology and public policy support citizens’ welfare and aspirations. This crucial fact will guide discussion at the second annual summit in June – the theme of which is The Human City – and should be at the heart of sustainable urbanization initiatives.

Making sustainable urbanization a strategic priority might be the only way to overcome the interrelated crises of jobless growth, youth unemployment, and income inequality. While some factory jobs can be outsourced or automated, robots cannot yet retrofit buildings, install solar PV cells on rooftops, or construct vertical farms. Even the movement in some cities, such as Singapore and Tokyo, toward driverless subways or cars will demand substantial labor to build and manage the relevant systems. In the future, as in the past, the most labor-intensive jobs will involve building homes, production facilities, and, in turn, communities.

Parag Khanna, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, is Director of the Hybrid Reality Institute and the author of The Second World, How to Run the World, and Hybrid Reality.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2013.

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