SmartCities + ecowarriors

摘要

Rapid urbanization processes came to international attention a while ago, but in the context of sustainability and the use of resources a new approach to cities is developing, especially in recently industrialized countries. Despite a high awareness of 'eco' and 'green' issues, the dichotomy of 'nature' and 'culture' is more evident but less visible: urbanized societies do not notice the extent to which they are continually distancing their lifestyles from seeing and understanding their natural origins, needs and dependencies. Nineteenth-century industrialization and subsequent modernist paradigm of human development clearly separated various human activities, allowing specialization and economic growth, but also cutting off the access to logic and reason behind them. Our clothes, tools, food on our table, our work - everything - is produced, commissioned or processed thousands of kilometres away from us - geographically and mentally detached from our existence. The vast majority of urban population often has no knowledge of agriculture or the outcomes of their work and whom they affect. Concurrently rural agrarian peripheries are occupied by industrialized 'efficient agriculture' - production of food and other supplies. This reality is a starting point for Ed Liu and C.J. Lim to elaborate an intriguing manifesto for sustainable urbanity, or, more specifically, sustainable civilization.