Dante’s Divine Comedy describes one level of hell (the City of Dis) as “Satan’s wretched city…full of distress and torment terrible.” He could well have been describing many modern-day metropolises.The world, especially Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, is experiencing a massive wave of urbanisation.
Ever since the ancient Greek poet Theocritus wrote his pastoral idylls romanticizing rural life, people have been pondering how to build cities that are in concert with their natural surroundings. But with rates of urbanization growing exponentially around the world, the need for greener cities has never been more urgent. Fortunately, innovation and technology can help strike this long-elusive balance.Bridging the urban-rural divide has long been a focus of city planners.
