The New City: How to Build Our Sustainable Urban Future

by Dickson D. Despommier

Cities are at once among humanity’s crowning achievements and core drivers of the climate crisis. Their dependence on the outside world for vital resources is causing global temperatures to rise and wildlife habitats to shrink. But we have the opportunity to make cities more sustainable by transforming the built environment.

Dickson D. Despommier proposes a visionary yet achievable plan for creating a new, self-sustaining urban landscape. He argues that we can find solutions through the concept of emulating successful strategies found in nature. A better city is possible if we heed the lessons that forests and trees teach about how to store carbon, grow food, collect rainwater, and convert sunlight into energy. Touring established and leading-edge technologies, The New City provides a blueprint for tomorrow’s urban environment. Cities built from wood will be more resilient and less destructive than concrete and steel construction; they will also encourage reforestation, boosting carbon sequestration. Vertical farms inside city limits will supply residents with a reliable, healthy food supply. Buildings will harvest moisture from the rain and air to secure a clean water supply. Renewable energy, including not only wind, solar, and geothermal but also clear photovoltaic window glass and nonpolluting hydrogen fuel cells, will power a cleaner city.

The New City delivers both a passionate call to action for halting climate change and a bold vision of the sustainable future within our grasp.

216 pages, Hardcover

Published October 10, 2023

About the author

Dickson Donald Despommier was an American academic, microbiologist and ecologist who was a professor of microbiology and Public Health at Columbia University. From 1971 to 2009, he conducted research on intracellular parasitism and taught courses on parasitic diseases, medical ecology and ecology. Despommier received media coverage for his ideas on vertical farming.

Reviews

[Lisa Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despommier believes that a city built in accordance with nature can, and will change, peoples lives. The four pillars of his "new city" are Carbon Storage, building with environmentally friendly wood; Urban Agriculture and the use of vertical farming; Harvesting Water From the Air especially capturing rainwater and recycling all waste; Renewable Energy. All of the technologies he discusses exist right now and are being deployed around the world. There is indeed hope for the future.

[Vadim G · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a pure vanity project for the most wealthy who control a significant amount of resources. This book comes to you from the infamous Columbia University where many of the problems Americans face today had originally wormed its tentacles into.

[Dusty Wight · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good overall look and thesis abiut how we need to update our cities in order to create a cleaner and ultinately happier future. This should be required reading for electes officials and city planners.