Human activity has changed biodiversity on planet Earth since ancient times. The Easter Islands were once full of abundant greenery, their settlers plundered them in such a way that it led them to their own destruction. Architects design a self-sustaining Smart Forest City Cancun with the ability to absorb tons of carbon dioxide a year, hoping to unleash a boom in this direction.
Architects have not taken into account the preservation of the environment and the need for renewal in their grand projects. For several centuries, plundering land for agriculture and the urbanization boom have been ignored as the impact on the planet.
Experts already know the need to design and organize our cities to be energy and food independent. The Italian architectural firm Stefano Boeri Architetti is working on a project called “Smart Forest City”.
“This city has the opportunity to become a model and pioneer of a new kind of human settlement,” said Stefano Boeri in a statement.
City Location
Stefano Boeri Architetti hopes to acquire a 557-hectare site in Cancun, Mexico. The country will choose among several proposals for the use of the area. If the “Smart Forest City” project wins, Italian architects will create a home for 130,000 people and 7,500,000 plants.
“With new public parks and private gardens, green roofs and green facades, truly occupied areas will be returned to nature thanks to a perfect balance between the amount of green areas and track building,” the press release said.
Green Design
The architects included solar panels that surround the city, an agricultural field belt and a water channel to feed crops. The city should absorb about 116,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
“Water is a key element of the project: it gathers at the entrance to the city in a huge basin, which also has a desalination tower, and is distributed through a system of navigable canals throughout the settlement up onto a strip of agricultural fields surrounding the urban area. Many water gardens are designed to combat floods as a model of resilient landscape,” said a press release.
The Italian architectural studio is now awaiting approval from its Mexican authorities. For Italian architect Stefan Boeri, the Mexican city project is not the first in his career. He has already built a so-called “forest town” in Milan, for example.
Stefan Boeri hopes to be the inspiration for other sustainable projects. It is time to take steps to avoid the same end as the inhabitants of Easter Islands.
Source and credit: https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/
