RICKY BURDETT of the State are often from competing political parties and LIVING IN AN URBAN AGE backgrounds. “Governance is not automatic,” says Burdett. “It’s not enough to have a mayor. You also have to make sure that he or she has jurisdiction over the region that actually affects the dynamics, and To plan sustainable cities, good governance and role models are crucial that people pay taxes towards the city and its infrastructure.” Good governance in place, what should those mayors do? Public By Nicole Kobie Portrait by Rick Pushinsky transport is a good starting point. Cities too often mimic the US model of sprawl and cars, Burdett warns, and that is not sustainable for cities with incredible population densities. There are better Driverless cars and smart cities are interesting experiments, but country. “The problem was that everyone came up with autonomous models to follow. Addis Ababa has between 3.4 million and 5 million they are not the real innovation that is needed to solve the challenges vehicles and smart traffic lights in cities where there were no people and despite Ethiopia being a very poor nation it has actively of dramatic urbanization. That is according to Ricky Burdett, sewers or housing or toilets,” he says. “Wouldn’t those come first?” chosen to invest – with help from Chinese backers – in transport. Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics where The smart city work by Sidewalk Labs in Toronto, Canada, is “There is a very centralized government that has decided to try to he is also Director of Urban Age, a project supported by Deutsche a valuable experiment, he adds. There the Google-owned company stem the tide when it comes to issues of transport and urban growth Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society, which runs city-themed is redeveloping a large swathe of the city’s riverfront, building in by building a light rail transit system, as well as social housing,” conferences, from Shanghai to Addis Ababa, and produces weighty connected sensors from the ground up to enable sustainable Burdett says. “They’re promoting a culture in the city where they’re tomes on the challenges of the world’s shift to urban environments. transport, energy and housing. However, Burdett predicts it will reducing the dependency on the car as much as possible.” And those challenges are rapidly growing. According to the not do much to address the real challenges facing cities. “I think the Long commutes have an impact on much more than the United Nations, 55 percent of people globally now live in urban niche application of some of these models, which are enormously environment and productivity. Burdett relates a story about families areas and that is predicted to climb to 68 percent by 2050. “But if expensive, will have limited impact in our lifetimes.” in Bangkok in which the children sleep on the backseat of cars on you look at a world map, where this urbanization will happen is What works for each city will differ, but it starts with good their way to school and then have dinner there on the way home, in URBAN PLANNING distributed completely unequally. Over 90 percent of it will occur governance. Set aside expensive experiments with smart cities, the schedules dominated by multi-hour commutes. “These big things either in the African continent or parts of Asia,” says Burdett. Cities internet of things and driverless cars; instead, empower mayors to we’re talking about in terms of planning and infrastructure have such as Lagos in Nigeria and Dhaka in Bangladesh are growing by solve problems methodically, with sustainable ideas. “We’re sitting very real consequences for family relationships, people’s state of hundreds of thousands of people each year, some 60 or 70 people in London, a city that has only had mayoral elections since the year mind and how they can perform as professionals,” he says. every hour. That means more hospitals, roads, 2000,” he says. “But, as a result, London’s Public transport has benefits beyond cutting commutes. The sewers, schools and homes need to be built. direction of travel has changed significantly.” best examples of addressing urban ills via transport infrastructure Ricky Burdett at the “In these regions, the form of urbanization “Simple solutions In the two decades since, London has flipped come not from Europe, Asia or North America, but Colombia. Faced London School is particularly dynamic,” Burdett says, but between mayors affiliated with the left and with heavy drug-related crime, between 2004 and 2007 Medellín’s of Economics where such as giving he is Professor warns that cities are currently designed in right and back again, but each mayor has then Mayor, Sergio Fajardo, introduced a series of projects under the of Urban Studies unsustainable ways, meaning we cannot look mayors more focused on necessary urban projects. That banner of social urbanism, investing in ideas that benefit social HOW BUSES AND to them for help in planning the cities of the power may have has led to cycle lanes and car-sharing schemes, equity, in particular public transport. “Medellín has very steep hills, BIKES ARE future. That makes it important to find increased funding for public transport with a lot of informal development stacked up over the decades on TRANSFORMING BOGOTA examples of quickly growing cities that have more impact than infrastructure, and projects to reduce air those hills,” says Burdett. They were inaccessible to police and good governance and sustainable design – and technological pollution, such as the Congestion Charge zone. became strongholds for drug cartels. “What this mayor did was Good governance and sustainable use those to inspire better ideas in the future. innovations” Compare that to New York City, where introduce a system of connections, including cable cars, along with transport can help improve the And timing matters. India is expected to state-level Governor Andrew Cuomo has more a series of public-space interventions such as parks, libraries lives of inhabitants in a sprawling city, as seen in the Colombian capital. add 300 to 400 million people to its already power to determine what happens with and schools at the heart of these very difficult barrios,” he says. The largest city in the country, Bogotá massive cities in the next 20 years, he says, but it still needs to build transport in the city than Mayor Bill de Blasio. “In New York City, “The place has been totally transformed.” International campaigns is still growing and has a population the majority of its urban infrastructure. “Most of the decisions we there’s therefore much less investment in the city’s transport against organized drug crime have contributed to this, but the city of eight million, with 11 million in the wider metropolitan area. In 2000, make now will actually lock cities into patterns of sustainable, or system than in London,” Burdett says. “Governance translates into invested effectively, too. Mayor Enrique Peñalosa (who was unsustainable, performance for a very, very long time,” Burdett vision and into implementation.” Simple solutions such as giving mayors more power, focusing on reappointed to the role for a further four-year term in 2016) opened the notes. “If we get that wrong, we’ve got a problem. If we continue in The physical size of London is constrained by central public transport and managing growth may have more impact than TransMilenio, a network of dedicated the way we are now there are going to be significant issues.” government decisions to implement the Metropolitan Green Belt expensive technological innovations. But while smart-city projects bus lanes known as a bus rapid transit (BRT) system. “It’s been very, very But, believes Burdett, we still have time to get it right. “If we can around the capital, which prevents urban sprawl. Cities often get plenty of media coverage, it is not always easy to uncover and effective, and it is still being expanded,” channel our investments and policy towards more sustainable expand beyond their borders, though. Indeed, most cities that are understand the models that have already had impact. Knowledge- says Burdett. Alongside the bus lanes, forms of planning and design, we could actually steer the urban growing at a pace are not planned or managed, but are spreading sharing is vital to building sustainable lives as urbanization Bogotá built cycle pathways – a smart choice in a flat city situated on a plateau, ship in a particular direction rather than the one it is going in now.” out in a laissez-faire manner. Most of the urban growth in Africa increases. And that means those influencing the future of cities, be he adds. Though criticized by citizens Since most urbanization is happening in cities with smaller and parts of Asia is informal and unplanned. “There’s no one in they investors or mayors, need to get together and talk to share the for queues, safety concerns and fare hikes, the infrastructure has helped cut economies that have less available energy, technological solutions charge. People just come to a city overnight and build a shack on its models and ideas that do work. “There are good stories,” says commute times by 46 percent, from such as driverless cars are not the answer. “You absolutely need to edges and hope to make a living,” Burdett says. Burdett, “but we just need to find out about them.” more than 80 minutes to less than an have low-tech, simple cost-effective measures,” Burdett says, Growth beyond borders is also seen in Paris and Mexico City. hour in each direction, according to Burdett’s book Shaping Cities in an noting that there are very few places that are truly ‘smart cities’, Both have strong mayoral structures, but those elected officials Urban Age.