Half the world's population lives in cities. By the year 2025, this figure will have risen to three-quarters. And yet the modern city -- the creation of a private sector interested in financial reward, and a public sector motivated by short-term expediency -- is a direct cause of pollution, alienation, and social division.In Cities for a Small Planet, Sir Richard Rogers, one of the world's leading architects and the designer of the Pompidou Center in Paris, demonstrates how future cities could provide the springboard for restoring humanity's harmony with its environment. He describes how we can and must create cities for a planet that is growing smaller and smaller: cities that are sustainable within their own environment, that can make a positive impact on their surroundings, that encourage communication among their citizens, that are compact and focused around neighborhoods, and that are beautiful.
