Dani,
I also have been fascinated with the Future World Vision initiative, especially for the Mega City. The main reason being, I think our current path is already moving towards mega cities, as more than half the worlds population now live in cities. I also think that concentrating a majority of the human population in cities can help protect our diverse ecosystems and wildlife (something I am also very passionate about). If we concentrate most of the worlds population in mega cities, and allow nature to reclaim a majority of the areas between mega cities, we can see a drastic improvement in our ecosystems. David Attenborough (narrator of many nature documentaries, including Planet Earth) has a film called A Life on Our Planet which dives deeper into this concept. There are examples of how nature can transform urban and rural man-made areas into thriving ecosystems that can support numerous wildlife in a timeframe of only 25-30 years. Of course, that is with either the help of humans (by planting trees, restrictions on hunting, etc,) or by the absence of humans all together (in the case of contaminated areas like Chernobyl). The film also highlights the need for humans to reach a sustainable equilibrium with our surroundings. An example of this was rather than fishing everywhere continuously (which is unsustainable and depletes the fish population), have protected areas where fishing is not allowed. This causes the ecosystem in the protected area to thrive, which results in a higher fish population. The greater fish population will expand outside of the protected area, where they can be fished, in a sustainable manner. I think a lot of these principles can work well together with Mega Cities with the right foresight and planning. It can be a way to protect our planet as we know it, with all of its amazingly diverse wildlife, rather than a planet that has been completely taken over by one species: humans.
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Doug Cantrell P.E., M.ASCE
Professional Engineer
Durham NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-24-2021 09:06 PM
From: Danielle Schroeder
Subject: Future World Vision - Thoughts?
Hi folks,
I recently came across the following YouTube video from ASCE Rhode Island where ASCE Technical Region Director, @David Odeh, introduces the Mega City for ASCE Future World Vision: Future World Vision Mega City - David Odeh and earlier this week I heard from @Robin Kemper on the topic as she was Keynote speaker during a Tennesse Engineers Week event. It was fascinating to hear how we are reimagining infrastructure based on technology and other factors through the example of the Mega City!
As someone who loves STEM Outreach and enjoys video games, I am excited to see if I can incorporate Future World Vision into future outreach events to inspire the future generation!
What are your thoughts on the Mega City Engineering Example or Future World Vision in general?
Thanks,
Dani
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Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE (She/her)
Associate Engineer
Pennoni
Philadelphia PA
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