Government
How Cities Became Heroes of the Environment
It wasn’t long ago that urban life was seen as antithetical to nature.
During COP21, my inbox has been full of press releases proclaiming cities as leaders in the fight against climate change. “Cities set the pace and scope of progress until any COP21 deal kicks in,” one from C40 Cities proclaims. And it’s true: Many mayors have been addressing climate change with adaptation strategies and CO2 reductions that have rightfully served as inspiration at the meeting of global leaders.
The environmental advances that have taken place in cities are remarkable for many reasons, but I want to talk about just one of them: Up until quite recently, cities were villains of the environment. How did people get to this point, intellectually speaking, where cities are now environmental saviors?