Sustainability 2014, 6(1), 365-374; doi:10.3390/su6010365
The Unsustainable City
1
Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore-ETH Centre, 1 CREATE Way, #06-01 CREATE Tower, Singapore 138602, Singapore
2
Information Architecture, Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Received: 28 October 2013 / Revised: 2 January 2014 / Accepted: 2 January 2014 / Published: 13 January 2014
Abstract
“Make cities more sustainable” is an omnipresent slogan in architecture and urban planning. This article is a discussion on theoretical and practical boundaries of using the expression “sustainability” with respect to the scientific community, therefore avoiding sustainability becoming a euphemism for “doing good”. By definition, it can be concluded, cities developed as counterparts to the hinterland and, therefore, they axiomatically should be and are as a matter of fact unsustainable. Furthermore, sustainability is a binary, not a gradual concept. Something is either sustainable or not. Aiming to increase the sustainability is consequently a sham battle. It would be necessary to change our perception to acknowledge that cities should be unsustainable in order to become efficient, seen from a global perspective including the hinterland. View Full-TextKeywords:
cities; land-use; perception; sustainable development; unsustainability; urban planning
▼
Figures
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0).
Share & Cite This Article
MDPI and ACS Style
Berger, M. The Unsustainable City. Sustainability 2014, 6, 365-374.
Related Articles
Article Metrics
Comments
[Return to top]
Sustainability
EISSN 2071-1050
Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
RSS
E-Mail Table of Contents Alert