7 principles for building better cities | Peter Calthorpe | TED

More than half of the world's population already lives in cities, and another 2.5 billion people are projected to move to urban areas by 2050. The way we build new cities will be at the heart of so much that matters, from climate change to economic vitality to our very well-being and sense of connectedness. Peter Calthorpe is already at work planning the cities of the future and advocating for community design that's focused on human interaction. He shares seven universal principles for solving sprawl and building smarter, more sustainable cities.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more.

[faqihabdurrahman]

1. preserve natural, heritage
2. mixed
3. walk
4. bicycle
5. road netwok
6. mass transport
7. transit

[supersneakusa]

What I find ironic is people had it figured out in the past. I live in an old part of my city, there's a grocery across the street, buck store, lots of little shops, gas station, banks, restaurants with in a short walking distance, plus there's parks, walking trails, plus we have a river, I can walk to go fishing and experience nature too. I couldn't imagine moving to a new subdivision, then having to drive everywhere... plus that chews up a lot of time. It does build community because you are always going to the same places, you get to know people which is great.

[armandoaraujo]

For me the best example of a well design city is Amsterdam. Everyone is either riding a bike, walking or taking the trams there. You hardly see anyone in cars because the city is so well optimized for other means of transportation, especially biking. I would love to see my city here in Silicon Valley become more like Amsterdam.

[kykk]

I live in one of the larger Scandinavian cities; I have a five minute bike ride to work, 10 minutes to downtown for bar and restaurant areas/main train station/sports arena/concert venue and so on. I have two major grocery stores within a few minutes walk, as well as an urban train station with a ten minute ride from the big box outlets on the other side of town. Not to mention there are at least three schools and numerous kindergardens within a few minutes walk. This is all in a mixed area of apartment buildings and single family housing.


When I visit my dad in Tampa, Fl; within a ten minute walk there is nothing, twenty minutes you get to the nearest Starbuck's, a Papa Johns, a licquor store and a couple of gas stations. The nearest major grocery store is at least 45 minutes away on foot, mostly along heavily congested roads. There's absolutely no sense of community, and pretty much every house has a big empty yard, a beautiful porch with an empty porch swing. 'Tis the saddest place in the world.

[David-ftfq]

Principles themselves start at 9:55 in case you only want to check those

[mokuu]

Don’t forget to also make our cities beautiful! People gravitate towards beautiful cities because it’s proven that beautiful things make us feel good and that’s why when beautiful buildings are destroyed you feel remorse as if a person has died

[JensPlaner]

Awesome! This is why I am becomming a city planner. Those exact difficulites and solutions are the big problems we will face in the next 50 years

[eddebrock]

...and now I want to play Cities:Skylines.

[holytrashify]

somebody actually gets it, urban sprawls are boring, a place where people dont want to be except for in their homes or cars

[tommie]

Australia has a huge issue with sprawl as well. I live in a suburb just a few kilometres outside of Melbourne but it's very isolated and sterile. It's particularly hard being here because literally everything is just houses near a busy main road. Most of the time, I just stay home and it can get very lonely. I would love something that has more personality! Even just a night market, and collated, commercial zone with personality and a super connected public transport into the main city would be amazing!

[timogronroos]

My vision is to have walkable interesting hubs, "parts-of-cities" and then a subway of tram -system to get easily between them. You would then live in a community, but have easy access to other communities with services and working places. I live in Europe and that has been basically my experience my whole life from the 60's onward

[lootrpv]

So.. Biking, walking, transit, parks, no-auto streets.. He essentially described a European city

[funny-video-YouTube-channel]

The best cities have trees, wide spaces to run, cycle and to walk.

The traffic of cars does destroy the city as the livable space. The better solution is to put larger roads with parking under the ground, and the slow roads on top.

[jukio]

Basically, copy Disneyland in Anaheim. Everything is walkable, hotels are very close by the park, you can easy walk. Think about it, Disneyland has a tram, everything is walkable, everything is nice to look at, it's very eye pleasing, nothing boring, lots of restaurants, shops, things to do. LOL.

[finnyjam]

We should also focus more on making architecture more interesting, such as using more wood and stones, and giving foundations/floors more interesting shapes instead of the standard rectangles.

[paramdeephardeepsingh]

I'm french, that really helped me for my school homework : to present a town planning project.

[katzunjammer]

Cars are too heavy, If you sit in a car 90% of the energy is used to move the car itself, and only 10% of the fuel actually transports the person....one reason for public transport is it uses less fuel per person to transport

[infinitworld]

man i really miss the life where you can literately get all of your daily groceries within 10 miunites of walking

[chebbou]

Beyond the structure, we're gonna have to consider the visual aspect of the city. Every city around the world is starting to look the same. Bring back traditional architecture!!

[Bastogne]

Mega projects like rain harvesting or transforming a city into a sponge city will change our relationship for the better between nature and man. Biotechnology will also have its debut by showcasing its potential use of harnessing of replicating the power of nature.

But it's time we build a not just a better city, but a better world. This can not be done solely with money or with resources, but with ideas. We like to think that it is money that makes the world go round but fundamentally it's human cooperation which society should capitalize on.