Why Urban Ecology, City Infrastructure, Sustainable Economics and Urban Planning are Vital to ensure the Future Prosperity of Our Cities

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The continuous removal of organic material from a biological system ultimately ends in that system’s collapse; something that is as relevant to urban landscapes as it is to forests, deserts or rivers. Biology must be considered in all of these terrains so as to assist in reversing the damage of past urban and environmental policies. In urban settings this has meant the re-design and retrofitting of sewage systems to extract methane, the infiltration and retention of rainfall, and the restoration of green spaces via green roofs, vegetation planted along vertical walls and terraced buildings.

At the core of all of these innovations is to “Value Ecosystem Function higher than the Production of Goods and Services,” because only in this way will society have the ability to become truly sustainable by halting the destruction of the ecosystem.

During his lecture, John Liu stressed that transformational change is possible, but not without the recalibration of society’s base incentives. Infinite growth is a fallacy that fails to take into account the complexities of urban ecologies, the realities of sustainable economics and the health of our future cities and rural areas. Mr. Liu focused particular attention on a multi-year project in mainland China to restore the Loess Plateau and the great strides that Rwanda has made in relation to its environmental policy.

The Loess Plateau link above leads to Mr. Liu’s film Hope in A Changing Climate, and audio and images from Mr. Liu’s talk will be added to this site in upcoming weeks.

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梁宏玲: hlliang@cityu.edu.hk
電話: (852) 3442 6480

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