How did our planet become so urban, and how can our cities be more vital, livable, and sustainable?
Bruno Carvalho
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
It has become a cliché to say that more than half of the world’s population now lives in cities. The speed and scale of urbanization over the past century has been stunning, and we tend to underestimate the extent to which built environments and natural landscapes have become entangled. As both lived and imagined spaces, cities will continue to shape life on our planet. In fact, if we consider the flow of resources (and refuse), energy systems, the circulation of people and cultures, where do our cities actually end? This class starts from the premise that the urban today represents a worldwide condition in which nearly all political, economic, cultural, and socio-environmental relations are enmeshed.... Read more about Living in an Urban Planet (Gen Ed 1103)