THE GREEN URBAN FUTURE Cities are changing fast. The world is rapidly urbanizing and in the next ten years, city growth will be a major topic in urbanism. 2007 was a special year, since for the first time in history, more people lived in urban centers than in rural areas. In the upcoming years, more and more people will move to cities (Ritchie and Roser, 2018). As a result, cities become densely populated. As you probably are a student from Eindhoven, these changes have to be familiar to you. Eindhoven’s skyline is being filled with high rise buildings at a high pace. The benefits of urbanization are recognized by most people. Short trade links, shared infrastructure, better social integration and high economic activity are just the tip of the iceberg of advantages. People love living in cities since in general, living standards are higher compared to a life in the countryside. But be careful! The environmental downsides of urbanisation, even in a well-developed country like the Netherlands, should not be underestimated.
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Air pollution resulting from both industry, and exhaust gasses from cars concentrates in cities. Flooding resulting from heavy rainfall occurs in most Dutch cities due to the huge amount of paved surfaces. The lack of biodiversity – occurring everywhere but particularly in cities – forms a huge threat to a healthy living environment. Also heat stress due to the absorption of the solar energy by the concrete jungle of buildings is more and more recognized as a problem. At Buro Lubbers, we believe the environmental downsides of urbanisation can all be prevented when designing cities in the correct way. The most important tool? The one thing often seen as opposed to urbanisation: nature. Greenery is able to resolve all disadvantages described above. Plants and trees are able to reduce the amount of particulate matter in the air. They absorb water by creating a water buffer; They attract insects and other animals, contributing
