Smart Green Cities

The United Nations estimates that the world’s population will grow to 10 billion people by the mid-21st century. Urban centers will be disproportionately affected by this growth, as half of today’s seven billion people already reside in cities.

Some of the fastest urban growth is taking place in the developing world. Urbanization catalyzed China’s extraordinary economic growth and rapid industrialization over the past 30 years. Yet the rapid expansion also yielded severe congestion and air pollution and accelerated the effects of global warming and climate change as the demand for energy, water and infrastructure integration increased.

Smart green cities have been proposed as a promising strategy to provide and support basic integrated infrastructures. Cities throughout Israel, China, Germany and some areas of the United States have successfully implemented “sustainability” plans. These strategies provide quantifiable standards that allow governments to evaluate their results each year. Featured speaker Woodrow W. Clark II will discuss his work on smart green communities and how such efforts can help mitigate the effects of climate change and global warming.

Join the conversation online with #BakerGreenCities.