Liveblog

The Role of Urban Design | Nov 7th at 11:08am

Posted by Ryan Avent | 1

Our first few speakers—Robort Socolow, David Orr, and Adil Najam—have all emphasized the scope of the climate challenge facing the planet. It’s difficult to overstate the size and the urgency of the problem, and still more difficult to overstate the extent of the disconnect between the problem and our willingness to act to solve it.

I appreciated a taxonomy of the challenge presented by Najam this morning. Climate change is, at bottom, a chemistry problem. Carbon has certain properties that, in sufficient quantities in the atmosphere generate nasty warming effects. The scientists figured this out, and just as easily determined the solution—emit less carbon. In came the economists to say that the problem was in fact larger than chemistry alone. Various emission reduction mechanisms are available, some of which are far more damaging or costly than others. At base, said the economists, this is an efficiency problem. But then came the climate policy experts to explain that in fact not all efficiency measures are created equal; denying fossil fuels to the world’s poorest, whether or not that’s what efficiency dictates, is a mistake. In the end, they said, this is an equity problem. And beyond that it is a sustainability problem; we must continue to grow our economy, so how can this be done sustainably?

But beyond these categories, climate change is fundamentally a political problem. The challenge, it has been made clear so far, is how to get people to solve problems that require fundamental changes in behaviors, many of which are quite popular. How, politically, can we make ourselves change?

This, to me, is where the importance of urban design becomes critical. It can be and should be the role of urban planners to figure out how to make the unpleasant pleasant. To make efficiency enjoyable and desirable. To make efficient, green urban living simultaneously affordable and popular.

Ryan Avent is an economics writer living in Washington, DC. He authors The Economist's economics blog, Free Exchange, and covers environmental and urban policy issues for Grist.