As rates of urbanization increase globally, city planners are working to reverse decades of reckless growth by returning nature to the built environment. Fortunately, technology and bold thinking can help strike a long-elusive balance.
Ever since the ancient Greek poet Theocritus wrote his pastoral idylls romanticizing rural life, people have been pondering how to build cities that are in concert with their natural surroundings. But with rates of urbanization growing exponentially around the world , the need for greener cities has never been more urgent. Fortunately, innovation and technology can help strike this long-elusive balance.