From the 'dream of development' to an 'urban awakening': an interdisciplinary look at the challenges ahead

The urban crises facing the world today are commonly described in numbers. Less than one third of the world's population was living in cities in 1950. Since then, 90 percent of urban growth, approximately 3.1 billion people, has occurred in income–poor countries in the Third World, and by the year 2010, the largest sector of world society will be the urban poor. But the major problems posed by this scenario are better expressed by the limited options for action rather than in numbers. While the figures are daunting, the lack of a clear action–plan is of even more concern. This essay discusses how three professional disciplines, engineering, economics, and planning, have figured prominently in shaping the urban landscape, and takes a prospective look at what each one can offer to address the realities of urban life. It builds a characterization of urban sustainability on 4 principles: (1) the built environment should enhance the natural environment, rather than degrade it; (2) Building a sustainable city should represent an economically viable strategy, at some level of economic analysis; (3) the development strategy in place should reflect a social and political consensus; and (4) true sustainability is a public good: non–rival, non–exclusive. The essay is a philosophical piece that attempts to understand the limits in the discourse of each of the three disciplines, to hopefully take the agenda of urban sustainability to the next step.