Land is becoming scarce as the world's population grows and environmental changes shrink the amount of livable space on Earth. Some creative thinkers say the solution is to build up.
A nonprofit organization called Vertical City aims to garner support for so-called vertical cities — Tetris-like arrangements of interconnected towers designed to support thousands of residents.
These proposed structures, which can be up to 400 floors, contain all the components of a city, from housing and hospitals to universities and municipal departments. Advocates claim vertical cities will save energy, support a growing population, and preserve land for food production, nature, and recreation — if we can figure out a way to build them.
Over half the world's population lives in urban areas today, according to the United Nations, and that figure is expected to rise to 66% by 2050. Vertical cities offer a space-saving way to house all those people.
Imagine commuting to work, running errands, catching a movie, and returning home at the end of the day without ever setting foot on a sidewalk. This kind of convenience makes cars and public transportation less necessary, reducing the automotive industry's footprint on the environment.
Kenneth King, coauthor of "Vertical City: A Solution for Sustainable Living" and the brains behind the organization, predicts future vertical cities will be entirely self-sufficient. Vertical cities can, for example, theoretically provide countless unobstructed surfaces for solar panels.
But as Treehugger's Lloyd Alter points out, "The concept of the vertical city is fascinating and attractive to some people, and totally repulsive to others."
Living in a vertical city might feel claustrophobic, especially if there are few excuses to leave the towers. And by improving accessibility to nearby amenities, it limits the probability that people will seek out services and businesses outside of their immediate area.
Alter writes that the "resilience of supertalls" also causes concern. Developers in a rush to build might skirt safety precautions (in 2015, over 1,000 high-rises in Delhi, India, flunked fire safety regulations). Plus, if a fire were to break out, there's a chance water hoses wouldn't reach the flames.
In the event of an earthquake, a collapse could wipe out tens of thousands of lives.
King and coauthor Kellogg Wong aren't the first to pitch these mega-structures.
Italian firm Luca Curci Architects designed a 180-floor skyscraper that could house up to 25,000 people in the United Arab Emirates. Vincent Callebaut Architectures dreamed up a similar concept, though it stands a meager 36 stories, that combines small-scale farming and environmental friendly neighborhoods.
No true vertical city has ever been commissioned or constructed, though Gensler's newly opened Shanghai Tower comes close. It's the second tallest building in the world, and it separates into nine vertical zones arranged around miniature parks, called "sky lobbies."
According to King, an architect by trade, vertical cities have failed to come to fruition because of lagging innovation. Today's elevators reach a maximum height of 120 stories, he says, which is inadequate for vertical cities of roughly 400 stories. King looks to the ropeless elevator currently in development as a sign of hope that vertical cities are in our near future.
"We just cannot think of any 'cons,'" King says. "We like to hear from people if they have any 'cons" [around] living in a vertical city, we like to work with them and resolve these problems together."
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