Facilitating dialogue to promote open and multi-faceted discussion and awareness

Ran across this today in my studies and wanted to share how much of a recent phenomenon consistently rising standards of living are. This chart shows GDP per capita spanning from 1 A.D. our time. Now, many studies have shown the explosion of population, which have been apocalyptic in their conclusions, for the past several centuries. But none would have predicted such a rise in living standards, even within the past century. A century ago, the United States had a standard of living comparable to Kenya and Bangladesh now. Just look at what a rise in living standards can do now.

The study of economic development is a new and developing science! This is incredibly exciting for a student like me and many of my passionate friends.

Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. – The twin gems of the Middle East, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where money can buy and more importantly, build anything, a city is being built in the sky. Back in 2007, the government announced the “World’s first zero-carbon city” on Abu Dhabi’s outskirts. This announcement was immediately defamed by the West as a case of “Keeping up with the Jones(Dubai).” Regardless, 20 miles from the city’s center, this green dream is becoming a reality.

Designed by a firm of architectural techno-wizards, Foster & Partners, a raised city in the desert is taking form. Blending the new and the old, the Firm has taken state-of-the-art technology and blended it with ancient desert building practices inspired by the ancient citadel of Aleppo, Syria and the mud-brick apartments of Shibam, Yemen. This partnership has achieved remarkable sustainability, energy-efficiency, and traditional style, allowing for a seamless weaving together of modernization and deep founded standards.

Many of these practices, such as elevating the city to make use of high desert breezes for cooling, help reduce the city’s electric costs by half. 90% of the city’s power will be solar with the other 10% being produced by the burning of waste.

Not only is the city self-sustaining, but, it aims to be a marvel of aesthetic beauty. For urban designers, the largest problem has always been the automobile. In response to this, Foster has closed off the city from combustion-engine vehicles and buried below it’s streets a well-articulated network of public electric transit cars. He doesn’t stop there, however. All the city’s heavy-duty utilities, such as it’s water treatment and 54-acre solar plant will be placed outside it’s walls. Every detail of the city – the domiciles, labs, and plazas – has been made to maximize efficiency and beauty.

Critics of the city have said that it promotes the gated-community feel that has spread across the world with increasing globalization. The designers maintain that in order for a project like this to work, they must cut it off from the grid.

What are the social impacts of this? Is it possible for us to do this in America? Green energy is clean, cost-effective in the long-term, and renewable. There are communities scattered across the nation that are self-sustaining. What would it take for the Nation as a whole to begin transitioning to this sort of building?