Richard Register is one of the world’s greatest theorists in ecological city design and planning. He’s the author of several books and in this episode he sits down with Lennon Richardson to discuss what an Eco City is, why they will help many of our planet’s current problems, and what the future of Eco Cities holds.
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"If you’re going to have a peopled environment, it should be relatively dense." - Richard Register
Show Notes:
- What is an Eco City?
- Why high density is very important to Eco Cities
- How the growth of a city needs to be three dimensional
- The idea of building an entire city in one building
- Why people don’t want to get rid of the automobile in the city
- Why the suburbs backfired
- How we are crowding out all of the other biomass on the planet
- Why people need to understand the proportions of ecological shifts and climate change
- How a cultural shift needs to involve the planners and builders as well as average citizens
"You have to design a city for the people, not the automobile." - Richard Register
- Some examples of eco city projects around the world
- Why more and more people are wanting to move into the heart of the city rather than live in the suburbs
- Why there isn’t a true eco city anywhere in the world yet
- Where the first eco city might be built
- Some of the most eco friendly cities in the world
- Why Portland, Oregon is leading the United States in the eco city movement
- The benefits of using an Ecocity zoning map
- Why Ecotropolis planning should replace current zoning models
- How to protect ourselves from rising seas
- Why we should think about the positive side of ecovillages and take a chance by building one.
Links Mentioned:
- Read Richard's books
- Learn more about Ecocity Builders
- Learn more about Paolo Soleri
- Learn more about Mark Lakeman
"You can design cities to bring nature back into them." - Richard Register