Rethinking Cities "From the Ground Up"

Michael Totty of The Wall St. Journal says cities need to be rethought to be leaner and greener. His list of suggestions includes district-level heating systems, micro wind turbines, and walking and biking.

1 minute read

September 12, 2011, 12:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Totty also touts the controversial "personal rapid transit" concept and pneumatic garbage chutes:

"Some improvements are fairly easy, such as switching to energy-efficient LED lighting in buildings and streetlights, or setting aside bike lanes and widening sidewalks to encourage alternatives to driving (although such moves aren't without political hazards, as a recent battle over bike lanes in New York shows). Others are more ambitious, requiring new construction or even an extensive rebuilding of city infrastructure-consider what is needed to add a second set of pipes for a water-reuse system."

Saturday, September 10, 2011 in The Wall St. Journal

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