Today’s cities are all critically dependent on fossil fuels, and subject to the increasing stresses that will be associated with climate change. Their economies, food supplies, public and private transportation, and the production of materials to build them, are all energy intensive and fossil fuel dependent; and their existing building fabric has not been designed to stand up to the future environmental stresses produced by a warming climate.
Over the next 50 years, our societies and cities will therefore need to effectively respond to these challenges, or suffer significant economic and social consequences. This will happen for two reasons:
Peak Oil: Global production of fossil fuels is predicted to peak sometime between 2010 and 2020, and then begin to decline. Coupled with increasing oil demand from the developing world, decreasing worldwide production rates will drive energy costs up sharply.
Climate Change: Efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and otherwise lower Earth’s rising average temperature will begin driving serious social and political projects across the globe. Their timing will roughly coincide with Peak Oil. Many societies will depend on the success of these projects for their survival.
It is the purpose of ResilientCity.org to explore how best to respond to these two challenges by developing strategies and techniques for increasing the various aspects of urban resilience that will help our cities cope with the impacts of these stresses.
