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Megacities, megaproblems:

a contextual approach to environmental technology

SymCity

Norrköping, October 13-14 2011

Santiago Mejía Dugand

PhD Candidate

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What is a Megacity?

A city with more than 10 million inhabitants.

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There were 2 megacities in 1950

3 in 1975

9 in 1985

18 in 2000

20 in 2005

And there will be 22 in 2015 (17 in the developing world) Source: UN

Some classical examples (metropolitan areas)

•Tokyo (34,300,000)

•Guangzhou (25,200,000)

•Seoul (25,100,000)

•Shanghai (24,800,000)

•Delhi (23,300,000)

•Mumbai (23,000,000)

•Mexico City (22,900,000) Source:citypopulation.de

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The role of cities in today’s world

More than 50% of the

world’s population lives in cities

(around 7% in megacities)

Few countries left with less than

50% urban population

Source: UN

Source: The Guardian

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Cities keep growing.

In particular in developing countries.

An estimation of 200,000 people

Migrate everyday from rural to urban areas

Around the world

600 cities generate 60%

Of the world’s GDP

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Cities facilitate…

Jobs Health care Basic services Security attention

Education Entertainment

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But also face big challenges

Food shortage Air pollution Water provision Mobility

Fossil fuel

dependency Waste

management Gentrification

Overcrowding

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Can technology ”save” these cities?

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Not by itself, isolated from deeper problems (context)

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When talking about sustainability, there has to be a conscious,

social and technical assessment of the roots of the problem(s)

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Technology implementation

has to go hand-to-hand with

the stakeholders' training.

A good solution can be meaningless

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Having a solution does not necessarily

mean commercial success

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The same solution might work differently

under different contexts...

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Each particular case deserves special attention!

To innovate is also to find innovative uses

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The case of transportation in LA

10:1 in costs (compared to a metro)

4:1 compared to a light train

Takes shorter time to implement

Uses most of the existing infrastructure

Dedicated lanes

Flexible (possibility to overtake)

Works "like a metro"

Big coverage

"Outside-the-bus" collection system

Centralized management

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In less than ten years

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The case of Cleaner Production dissemination

Concepts face several barriers:

"Rich owners, poor companies"

Non existing/poor regulation

Bribes

Informal economy (parallel production)

Poor communication of incentives (when

they exist)

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A disfunctional triple helix

Academia

Industry

Government

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The need and search

for competitiveness and

attraction of foreign investment

in transitional cities (over

environmental concerns)

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The discomfort (aversion) of getting

foreign-dependent,

because of the fear of a new

"technological colonialism".

Expensive spare parts and support.

Long waiting times (more costs)

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Utopian views and their incompatibility (e.g. “holistic

solutions")

"Beautiful, but it won't work here"

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Difference in concepts (and

realities) of what sustainability

is and means for each culture

or geographical area.

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The fear (and risk)

of losing local knowledge.

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Thank you!

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(By the way, during these 20 minutes,

cities around the world have 2800 more

inhabitants)