Introduction
City view with skyscrapers and park (By Freddie Marriage on unsplash.com)
The UN expects 68% of the world population to live in urban areas by 2050 (United Nations, 2018). In contrast to that number, all urbanised areas in our world measure just about 3% of the total land on our planet (Cox, 2010). The chance that the urbanised area will increase in the future is most likely to happen, but still there is a very large contrast between the number of people living in cities and the area that is covered by them.
It goes without saying that the concentration of people living closely together may cause issues. Some of these issues may be solved and/or prevented by making cities and human settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable on different levels.
In this activity the students will first learn about the issues that are caused by the increasing population density in cities. After being made aware of current and possible future issues, examples of ‘good practices’ in different parts of Europe will be given. This enables the students to link possible solutions to existing and future issues.
In the second part of this activity the students are encouraged to recognize possible issues and find solutions and/or opportunities for the city where they live or study in. This will show them that every city has its own chances to grow more sustainable, even though there don’t seem to be a lot of issues at first sight. The students will formulate sustainable solutions for current and possible future problems within their own city or community regarding infrastructure, transportation, housing, food production and inclusion.
The ultimate goal of this activity is to make clear that one does not have to be a civil engineer to make their community or city a more sustainable place. Even with limited knowledge of urban structures and infrastructural techniques, an individual can make a change.
