Our cities face many challenges due to climate change, in the future as well as right now. Let’s dive into why we should cherish our cities, and what we can do to broaden our understanding of what is happening to our cities.
Cities are ever-changing living entities that constantly tell us what is happening to them. That may sound a bit strange but in today’s urban environments, the impact of climate change-related challenges like heat stress, floods, and droughts is visibly evident in infrastructure and on citizens. That’s why we created this video to explain and show you exactly how our urban areas are affected by infrastructure stresses now and in the future. When our cities talk, we should listen.
We want to give our cities a voice of their own. In I Am Your City we hear a city speak directly to its people and she reminds us of our shared bond and attraction to urban life – and why we need each other.
Ultimately, we’ll see that the more livable and lovable cities of the future will be designed for, around and through dialogue with their citizens.
With I Am Your City we try to bring attention to the ever-expansive growth of cities across the world and to what these cities will need from us to keep growing and thriving in a sustainable manner.
Play the video below to hear our cities speak
Our cities are living, breathing, unstoppable organisms – basically just like us people. And our cities are made up of us as well. There’s an important interplay between cities and humanity. We make them and they make us, endlessly. People give cities their birthright, their purpose. In return our cities give us housing, and food, they love us, they provide us with work, and of course pleasure. We thrive in our cities but they need our help to stay alive. There is less and less drinking water for our cities because we, the people, have such high demands and failing infrastructure. Our cities want to take care of us, but year after year they flood more and more. That combined with an outdated sanitation system equals a city overwhelmed whilst endangering our health and safety.
We are inseparable from our cities and if we want a future for those who come next, we need to build better never-failing cities. We need our cities alive so we can continue living, loving, and playing in the future.
No more short-term thinking.
Because what is a city without its people and what are we without our cities?
The dialogue on the future of cities is just beginning. We hope to broaden the knowledge and understanding of four key areas that are putting enormous strain on cities:
First, in the area of increased demand for a safe and efficient water supply.
Second, outdated sanitation networks.
Third, of the need for greater resilience to changing climate and weather.
And lastly, the problem of new buildings not meeting the sustainability expectations of their design.
Along with the short film, I Am Your City features supporting social posts and web pages dedicated to each of the challenge areas mentioned earlier, alongside discussions with global experts who have dedicated themselves to helping solve the respective challenges their particular cities are facing.
Here’s more on why we should cherish our city.