Cities are bad for the environment, right?

Hey fellow bloggers!

With more and more people moving into cities around the world, the question rises what the consequences will be. Studies show that in 2008, for the first time in history, more than half the world’s population was living in towns and cities. This ongoing  urbanization is often described as an endless cycle: as cities develop more opportunities, they attract more people, who then contribute to the development of the city, which in its turn will attract more people. So where are we headed?

Bad for the environment? Yes! But in what way?

The first thing people immediately think about is the rise of smog-levels. It is undeniable that having more citizens also means having more traffic and everybody knows cars are bad for the environment. I think we’ve all seen the images of Mexico City or Shanghai, shrouded in smoky fog. China even had to cancel all traffic in Beijing during the summer of 2008 in an attempt to clean the air for the Olympics.

But according to environmentalists, the smog isn’t the biggest problem of growing urbanization. They fear that the expansion of cement-dominated urban centres will have a detrimental impact on the biodiversity. 

The cup is half-full

However, a recent study shows that surprisingly high numbers of plant and animal species persist and even flourish in urban environments. Of course, many species have already been lost, but the decline of certain species has been slowing down lately. This discovery aims to highlight the value of green spaces in cities, such as Central Park in New York, and opens the door for new policies on regional and global biodiversity conservation. With the right approach, urban landscapes could support more bird and plant species in the future.

Of course, no one is saying that cities are actually good for the environment, but they aren’t necessarily as bad as people make them out to be. We have to be realistic, in our growing economy, our life is increasingly defined within an urban context, so why not make the best of it while we can?

Do you believe that people can adopt the right attitude and help save what’s left of the biodiversity, or do you think this is just another theory that cannot be put into practice? 

Emmeline, Marjoke and Sophie