“Speed is irrelevant if you are going in the wrong direction” —
M K Gandhi Will we have enough resources to consume and survive
if 60% of the world’s population becomes urbanized by 2030? Are
our cities self-sufficient entities? How are we going to satisfy
the huge appetite of the growing cities and still be able the
leave a livable world for our future? Two per cent (2%) of the
world’s land surface, which the cities currently occupy,
consumes 75% of the world’s natural resources and discharges an
equal amount of waste, causing huge ecological footprints. “We
are using 50 per cent more resources than the Earth can provide.
By 2030, even two planets will not be enough” (Living Planet
Report 2012, WWF). “Ecological footprint”, a term coined by Rees
and Wackernagel in 1992, uses land as currency to measure what
we have and what our demands are and how our activities impact
nature. It measures the land resources required to support the
current consumption levels with current levels of technology for
supporting ou