Is the Environment a Luxury good? A Wicked Problem? What does it all mean and what can we do about it?

1. SmartR Us
aren’t we?

2. London 1952

5. April 19, 2015: In London last week, the most dangerous particles -
PM 2.5 - hit a high of 57 - that's nearly six times recommended limits.
Here in Delhi, we can only dream of such clean air!
Delhi

6. Beijing

7. Shanghai

8. Ulan Bator

9. Environmental Quality, A Luxury Good?
Nothing inspires environmentalism quite like a smog-filled sky or a contaminated river
Income
Environmental
degradation

10. More money, more forest-planting

11. Particulate Matter(s)

12. You cannot “buy” what you cannot see

13. Making visible the invisible

14. Sustainability is a wicked problem

15. New York, circa 1900
Easter Sunday on Fifth Avenue in 1900, https://goo.gl/bFBjUk
In the late 19th century, the
streets of fast-industrializing
cities were congested with
horses, each pulling a cart or a
coach, one after the other, in
some places three abreast.
There were something like
200,000 horses in New York
City alone, depositing manure
at a rate of roughly 35
pounds per day, per horse.

16. 1920: The Killer App

17. 1950: The Interstate
What would happen if every family had a car?

18. Total and Per-Capita Vehicle-
Miles Traveled, U.S.
The rest is history…
The total number of miles travelled, increases essentially one-for-one with highway miles built

19. The Joy of Driving

20. The Walkable City?
Panama City
Dakha (Bangladesh)Bangkok

21. WHO
8
Cars Kill People

22. 16,000 vehicles per day
1,900 peak hour
0.9 friends, 3.1 acquaintances
8000 vehicles per day
550 peak hour
1.3 friends, 4.1 acquaintances
2,000 ehicles per day
200 peak hour
3 friends, 6.3 acquaintances
Donald Appleyard, "Livable Streets" 1981
Social Interactions Correlated to Street Traffic
Cars Kill Social Relationships

23. 50 years after the great smog, a new killer arises
Vehicules are responsible for 25% of fossil-based CO2 emmisions

24. REWARD:THE EARTH
DEAD OR ALIVE
2002

25. Sprawl, LA Hong Kong
SprawlingvsHyper-density
Vishaan Chakrabarti, "A Country of Cities"

26. Los Angeles Hong Kong
Hyper-density Leaves Nature Natural

27. The Triumph of the (dense) city
Luís M. A. Bettencourt,
“The Origins of Scaling
in Cities”
Christine M. Hoehner,
“Commuting Distance,
Cardiorespiratory Fitness,
and Metabolic Risk”

28. Is it possible?
Year 1900: 200M people lived in cities, 12% of world population
Year 2015: 3,500M people live in cities, 50% of world population
Year 2050: 6,500M people will live in cities, 80% of world population
China will build the equivalent of New York every other year for 20 years
0,0%
10,0%
20,0%
30,0%
40,0%
50,0%
60,0%
70,0%
80,0%
90,0%
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
1900 2010 2050 2100
Urban population
Urban Total %

29. 2020: The Killer App

30. The Sharing Economy
• Cars are driven just 4% of the year
• 35% of consumers are expected not to own their own car by 2034
• 60% of US adults say they would ride in an autonomous car
• With a fleet of just 9,000 autonomous cars, Uber could replace every taxi cab
in New York City, and that passengers would wait an average of 36 seconds for
a ride

31. What if all trips in a city were carried out by a fleet
of self-driving cars shared by users?
The Same Mobility can be delivered with 10% of the cars!
OECD/International Transport Forum, “Urban Mobility System Upgrade”, 2015

32. Elon Musk’s grand plan to power the world with
electric batteries…
http://www.teslamotors.com/powerwall

33. http://walluck.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Bangkok-
City-At-Night.jpg
An inconvenient truth?
In the Future, Companies Will Survive Only if They Help Solve
Big Social Problems

34. Thank-you ;-)
@fjjariego