Christchurch is an example of efficient and vision-led local government action. We hear all too often of the failure of local and national governments to deal effectively with these disasters, with many agencies not funded adequately and consequently destroying all hope of a quick response.
When the loss of life is apparent and a new path must be forged, local governments are very effective at embracing the community and moving forward.
Conclusion
The purpose of this chapter is to show there is a precedence for everything we need to achieve in solving the climate crisis. We have overcome catastrophic disasters throughout history, and we have emerged and rebuilt better each time.
The lessons from Uruk, Mesopotamia, Memphis (Ancient Egypt), Rome, Venice, 1665 London, Jerusalem, modern-day London, the eco-cities, and Christchurch are lessons learned at the time and carried forward into the new cities formed around them. The modern city is a product of all these lessons, but with pressures of unprecedented urbanization and the need for transformation to address the climate crisis they once again have to rebuild to a new and higher standard.
While the housing problem of 1784 Florence shows us that the problems of today have not changed, it is clear that the scale of the problems has, and, therefore, so too have the consequences. This is our challenge.
Notes
1 1 La Citta di Firenze, Archivio Storico. https://cultura.comune.fi.it.
2 2 Hall, Sir P., 1998. Cities in Civilization. Pantheon, New York.
3 3 Jacobs, J., 1969. The Economy of Cities. Random House, New York.
4 4 https://www.ancient.eu/gilgamesh.
5 5 https://www.ancient.eu/uruk.
6 6 Ibid.
7 7 https://staff.cdms.westernsydney.edu.au/~anton/Research/Uruk_Project/history.htm.
8 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia.
9 9 Ibid.
10 10 https://www.laits.utexas.edu/cairo/history/ancient/ancient.html.
11 11 https://www.history.co.uk/shows/ancient-top-10/articles/10-things-the-ancient-egyptians-gave-us.
13 13 Harper, K., 2017. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
14 14 http://www.bu.edu/articles/2014/lessons-from-venice.
15 15 Ibid.
16 16 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/10/carbon-emissions-climate-change-global-warming.
17 17 The Museum of London, 2011. The Great Plague of 1665. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London#cite_note-mol-1 (accessed 28 January 2016).
18 18 https://www.historic-uk.com/historyuk/historyofengland/the-great-fire-of-london.
19 19 https://www.building.co.uk/focus/how-the-great-fire-shaped-modern-london/5083502.article.
20 20 Ibid.
21 21 Ibid.
22 22 Ibid.
23 23 https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/how-bazalgette-built-londons-first-super-sewer.
24 24 Ibid.
25 25 https://www.history.com/news/the-killer-fog-that-blanketed-london-60-years-ago.
26 26 Ibid.
27 27 Ibid.
29 29 https://www.moon.com/travel/arts-culture/jerusalem-history-first-second-temples.
30 30 Ibid.
31 31 https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-overivew-of-the-western-wall.
32 32 https://chinadialogue.net/en/cities/7934-why-eco-cities-fail.
33 33 Ibid.
34 34. Sze, J., 2015. Fantasy Islands. University of California Press, Berkeley.
35 35 Ibid.
36 36 https://grist.org/climate-energy/the-worlds-first-zero-carbon-city-is-a-big-failure.
37 37 Ibid.
38 38 Ibid.
39 39 Ibid.
40 40 Hall, P., 1982. Great Planning Disasters. University of California Press, Oakland.
42 42 Ibid.
43 43 Ibid.
44 44 Ibid.
45 45 Ibid.
3 The Emerging City – Introduction
Following on from the environmental challenges that urban cities face in cleaning up their urban ecosystems discussed in Chapter 2, The Civilized City, Austin now moves us forward in time to discuss the problems facing developing urban cities.
Throughout the chapter, Austin investigates urban conditions and the battle between the economy and the environment, using Malawi in Africa and China in Asia as examples, in an attempt to understand