From everything I have read about alternative energy, I cannot see any one answer. There are lots of different answers that have to be meshed together. In this article from Wired, Douglas McCray explores how Arup is going to build a completely new city near Shanghai.
Energy independent, ecologically sound, thriving. More than one discipline was needed to create the plans for this new city called Dongtan- and it sounds great. But we have all read about something that promised the world: The turkey offal plant in Carthage, Missouri that creates oil. The story was big in 2003 and 2006 and both times it was still projecting $15/gallon oil prices.
Unfortunately, the real price so far is $80/gallon.
Will Dongtan have the same fate? Will it become just another city? Planners and engineers can only take a city plan so far. How people live in it will be the real determining factor.
I understand that there are two modes of thought on planning. For example, on a college campus where this is a lot of walking, one planning method is to put sidewalks where you think people will walk. The other method is to put no walkways in at all and wait to see where the trails form and put sidewalks there. The lesson from this is that no planner can foresee all of the effects of the plan. For more people to live better on this planet, we are going to have to get better on implementing plans and preparing for all the side effects.
Great article! I love to see people taking action, but you are right, we have to see where we this one goes. It is encouraging to see nonetheless.