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(2014/02/09) Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering
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term impact of the necessary investments are accompanied by high risk and uncertainties. Things, however,

are not as difficult as they may seem. For London5, it was shown that the total investment needed to achieve

significant sustainability targets was less than 1 percent of the city’s gross domestic product. Also, a Siemens

study on Munich6 showed that a comparable city can reduce its CO2 emissions by 90 percent by mid-centu-
ry without impairing the quality of life for their inhabitants. These studies have also shown the connection

between abatement potentials and investments and RoI (return on investment). This helps city decision-ma-

kers prioritize their investments and optimize costs.

There are purely economic reasons for making the transition to sustainability, and for cities the prediction
stands that a competitive, green city with a high quality of life will attract the best and brightest people who

have the knowledge and skills needed to drive innovation and economic growth. Siemens currently is advi-

sing sev- eral city governments around the globe on how to make use of worldwide best practice and techno-

logy in this regard.

Last but not least, there is quality of life. It is intricately connected to the two other pillars, especially the en-

vironment. While cities are the engines of economic growth, they feature huge inequalities in distribution of

wealth and economic opportunity. The World Bank predicts that by 2035 cit- ies will become the predomi-
nant locations of poverty, as opposed to rural areas now.

...

4.8. British Council’s Climate and Cities programme

4.8.1. Low Carbon City

In this world, what will the future city look like?

Here’s what we know:

• It will be bigger... Today, 3.3 billion people live in the world’s towns and cities. By 2030, this figure will
have leapt to 5 billion. There will be eight ‘hypercities’ with more than 20 million inhabitants; another ni-

neteen ‘megacities’ with at least 10 million citizens, and 48 or so large cities where more than 5 million

people live.18

• ...or smaller... Half the world’s urban dwellers live in a ‘long tail’ of towns of less than 500,000 inhabi-
tants.19 These towns are too numerous to be counted, but by 2030 there will be at least 700 million more

people living in them (that’s twice the population of the USA).

• ...but considerably poorer. Even if economies grow strongly, 2030’s average urbanite will have a lower
standard of living than he or she does today. Cities in rich countries will barely grow over the next twenty

years and some will shrink. But developing countries will have 1.4 billion more urban dwellers, with the

very poorest cities growing fastest of all.20

But while tomorrow’s towns and cities face massive challenges, they still act as dynamos in the global eco-

nomy. Even poor cities have huge economic importance, with a country’s largest city commonly accounting

for 20% of its GDP.21 As the World Bank points out, “No country has developed without the growth of its

cities. As countries become richer, economic activity becomes more densely packed into towns, cities and
metropolises.”22 Not only do cities offer residents the chance of a better life, over time the benefit tends to

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