OVERPOPULATI

ON
Archi
tect
s,notpolit
ici
ans
,mustlayt
hebas i
sfort
hesol
uti
onofworl
dproblems,
assertedR.
BuckminsterFul
lertoanaudi
enceof150atWednesdayni
ght
'sChar
lesEl
iotNor
tonlectur
e,
1962.
Full
erals
oremarkedt hat"sci
encepacest echnology,t
echnol ogypacesindus t
ry,i
ndus t
ry
paceseconomics,andeconomi cspacespolit
ics
. Qui
tecl ear
ly,t
hen,pol
iti
cal
leadersar eat
thetal
lendofaffairs.
Andf ormantoas kchangeofpol i
ticall
eader si
sli
keaskingthecow' s
tal
ltoredesi
gn the cow."Noti
ng thatarchit
ecture br
ingst ogethermanyoft he ar
ti
sti
c,
sci
enti
ficandtechnologicalfiel
ds.
Andt
hatwast
hen.
Now,in mi
dstofri
sein Science,Technol
ogy,Indust
ries
,Economyand Pol
it
ics
,we s
ee
Growt
h-GrowthinPopul
ation,GrowthinOverpopulat
ion.
By2030,5bil
li
onpeopl
e,t
hatist
wo- t
hir
dsoftheworld’
spopulat
ion,wi
llr
esi
dei
nci
ti
es,
manyofthem i
next
remepover
ty-there’
snotenoughadequat
ehous i
ng.
Gl
obalwast
eproduct
ioni
spr
oject
edt
otr
ipl
eby21
00—t
othet
uneofmor
ethan1
1mi
ll
ion
t
onsperday.
Foodproduct
ionneedstoi
ncr
eas
eby70per
centby2050t
okeepupwi
tht
hedemandof
ourgr
owingpopulat
ion.
Whatweneed i
snew housi
ng model
sthatputpeopl
efir s
t;cit
iesneed al
ter
nat
ivest
o
l
andfil
lsandweneedt
obringfar
mstotheci
tywi
thver
ti
calgardensrunni
ngonwaste.
ON

Acitybas
icall
ymeansinf
rastr
ucture,andmostoft
hisi
nfras
tructur
ehass omewast
eflowin
ter
msofs urpl
usenergyf
rom buildi
ngs,CO2fr
om i
ndustr
y,wastewater
,foodwast
e,et
c.We
HUMANOVERPOPULATI

canconnectthesyst
emst ogethertouseourwast
easar esource.
WASTEMANAGEMENT

Tofeedagrowingpopul
ati
on,ci
ti
eswil
lneedtobecomenew cent
ersoffoodpr
oduct
ion.
Somedozenstepsmaystandbetweenafarmerandacons
umer,whichi
swhyanappleon
ON

asupermar
ketshel
fmaybeupt o11monthsold.
We need to expl
ore developmentinrooft
op f
arms and ver
ti
calgar
dens t
oindoor
FOODPRODUCTI

hydr
oponi
cstocreatesust
ainabl
efoodsour
cesint
heurbanenvir
onment.
Archi
tectur
eisnotaboutt hewayabui ldi
nglooksorit
spri
mar yfunct
ion;desi
gnshavet o
encourageusing s
pacesi nmul t
ipl
e,unexpectedways,withnodst osocialand cul
tur
al
fact
ors.Thi
senabl esestabli
shi
ng socialhousi
ng whi
ch developsovert i
me and holds
enoughexpans i
onwithexpandingciti
es,togr
owwithpopulati
on.
Unfini
shed,butf
ull
yfunct
ional
hous esofferpeopl
etheoppor
tuni
tyt
odevel
opovert
ime,
as
moneyall
owsandasneedsdi ctat
e.
Pr
ecisel
ywhyt he archi
tect
ureworld cel
ebrated the s
electi
on ofAlej
androAr
avena,of
Chi
lean“DoTank”firm El
emental
,fort
hePr i
tzkerArchi
tectur
ePr i
zein2016.
“
Whatwearchitect
smodeli
snotbr
icksorst
onesorst
eelorwood,butl
if
eit
sel
f.
”Ar
avena
s
aidatt
hePri
tzkercer
emonyatt
heUnitedNati
ons
,201
6.
Ar
chi
tect
urei
saboutgi
vi
ngf
ormt
othepl
aceswher
epeopl
eli
ve.