Life After Carbon

The future of our cities is not what it used to be. The modern-city model that took hold globally in the twentieth centuryhas outlived its usefulness. It cannot solve the problems it helped to create—especially global warming. Fortunately, anew model for urban development is emerging in cities to aggressively tackle the realities of climate change. It transformsthe way cities design and use physical space, generate economic wealth, consume and dispose of resources, exploit andsustain the natural ecosystems, and prepare for the future.In Life After Carbon, urban sustainability consultants Pete Plastrik and John Cleveland assemble this global pattern ofurban reinvention from the stories of 25 "innovation lab" cities across the globe—from Copenhagen to Melbourne. A cityinnovation lab is the entire city—the complex, messy, real urban world where innovations must work. It is a city in whichgovernment, business, and community leaders take to heart the challenge of climate change and converge on the radicalchanges that are necessary. They free downtowns from cars, turn buildings into renewable-energy power plants,re-nature entire neighborhoods, incubate growing numbers of clean-energy and smart-tech companies, convert waste toenergy, and much more. Plastrik and Cleveland show that four transformational ideas are driving urban climate innovation around the world, in practice, not just in theory: carbon-free advantage, efficient abundance, nature's benefits,and adaptive futures. And these ideas are thriving in markets, professions, consumer trends, community movements, and"higher" levels of government that enable cities.Life After Carbon presents the new ideas that are replacing the pillars of the modern-city model, converting climatedisaster into urban opportunity, and shaping the next transformation of cities worldwide. It will inspire anyone whocares about the future of our cities, and help them to map a sustainable path forward.