Future Cities
Smarter, sustainable, and more resilient use of city space
Published on the 16 July 2024
Cities play a vital role in the way many people live, work and play.
Today, more than 50% of the world’s population live in urban areas, and the United Nations expects the world to gain 2.2 billion new urban residents by 2050.
With the number of city dwellers set to increase drastically in the next few decades, current engineers are working hard to find creative solutions to existing challenges in cities and urban areas.
Dr Asal Bidarmaghz, a senior lecturer at the UNSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, explains: “The problem is already highlighted by researchers, urban planners, governments, and by the United Nations. Space and resources are limited, especially in cities, and the majority of the world population is going to end up in cities in less than 50 years' time.
“I think in the next 20 years we will see the outcome of what we have started already, the initiatives for smarter, more sustainable and resilient use of city spaces and resources will actually be the norm.”
Some of the sustainable practices being explored by UNSW’s civil engineers include more environmentally-friendly transport options and use of underground space.
Associate Professor Taha Rashidi from UNSW’s Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation says: “The way we are using fossil fuel is not sustainable. This is obvious. A big chunk of emission and pollutants are coming from the transport system, and we cannot continue using our own private vehicles the way we are using them.
“Transport engineers are becoming more creative. We are considering options that might get realised by the entire world as solutions so that trips are reduced, traffic congestions are reduced, and the source of energy and emission is also changed to something that is sustainable.”
Dr Bidarmaghz also expects to see more transport options move underground to free up valuable urban space.
"We are already using urban underground mainly for transport. The future of cities is going to be, to a big extent, relying on urban underground, but to do that in a sustainable way, we have to start planning now,” she says.
“I think the short-term solution is that we utilise this underground further. I don’t see that’s feasible for living purposes because human beings require sunlight and fresh air, but there are so many other activities... transport, freight, utilities, shopping centres, cinemas, things that you’re going to spend a very short period of time doing, can certainly be moved to urban underground.”
While new developments in transport technology and research into urban underground solutions have the potential to dramatically change the way urban populations work and live, engineers agree that more needs to be done to help create the liveable, resilient and environmentally conscious cities of the future.
Dr Bidarmaghz adds: “From manufacturing, from heating and cooling of buildings, in every sector, we have to find a way to reduce our carbon footprint. If we do this properly, we can secure our future and the sustainability of our future cities.”
To hear more about the cutting-edge ideas and creative solutions in urban engineering listen to the full story on UNSW’s Engineering the Future podcast.
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