Retell Lecture

Let me add to the complexity of the situation we find ourselves in, at the same time that we’re solving for climate change. We’re gonna be building cities for 3 billion people that’s a doubling of the urban environment, if we don’t get that right I’m not sure all climate solutions in the world will save mankind because so much depends on how we shape our cities not just environmental impacts but out social well-being, our economic vitality, our sense of community and connectedness. Fundamentally, the way we shape cities is a manifestation of the kind of humanity we bring to bear, and so getting it right is I think the order of the day, and to a certain degree, getting it right can help us solve climate change because in the end, it’s our behaviour that seems to be driving the problem, the problem isn’t free floating. It’s us- how we live. There is a villain in this story, it’s called sprawl and I will be upfront about that. But it’s not just the kind of sprawl you think of or many people think of as low-density development out at the periphery of the metropolitan area. Actually I think that sprawl can happen anywhere at any density, the key attribute is that it isolates people, it segregates people into economic enclaves and land-use enclaves. It separates them from nature, it doesn’t allow the cross fertilization, the interaction that make city great places and that make society thrive. So the antidote to sprawl is really what we all need to be thinking about, especially when we’re taking on this massive construction project.