Preface

• Author: Jonathan Rosenbloom
• Pages: 7-10

Preface vii

Preface

In Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino tells the ctitious story of secret meetings

between Marco Polo and Kublai Kha n. Each night Polo describes the won-

ders found in cities in Khan’s empire. Khan ultimately gures out that his

empire is in far worse condition than Polo describes. Khan tel ls Polo that

he knows his empire is crumbling and he and his people are in a downward

spiral. Polo replies:

Yes, the empire is sick, and what is worse, it is tr ying to become accustomed to

its sores. is is the ai m of my explorations: examining the trac es of happiness

still to be glimps ed, I gauge its short supply. If you want to know how much

darkness t here is around you, you must sharpen your eyes, peeri ng at the faint

lights in the dist ance.1

As the federal government pulls back from climate regulation and turns a

blind eye to climate science and local plight, it is cities th at provide a faint light

and hope for the future. And yet, local governments face an uncertain and

daunting future. Societa l, environmental, political, and economic changes test

the survival of ma ny communities. ese changes include higher obesity rates,2

disparities in economic equality not seen since before the Great Depression,3

state and federal hostility to loc al action,4 increase in the sharing economy and

autonomous vehicle s,5 and, potentially most distressing, a warmer cl imate6 and

irreplaceable loss of biodiversity.7

Paralleling these changes is an explosion of development that will rival

post-World War II land use expansion. e U.S. population is projected to

increase by almost 70 million people by 2040.8 is increa se and the phasing

out of older buildings will require massive amounts of development, includ-

ing approximately 90 billion additional square feet of commercial, reta il, and

industrial space and 80 mi llion new residential units.9

If development patterns in the next 20-30 years replicate development pat-

terns for the last 20-30 years, 40 mi llion undeveloped acres will be destroyed

(approximately the size of Oklahoma).10 Communities across the country will

lose critical ecosystems a nd habitats (forests, prairies, wetlands, etc.). Such a

loss will add stress to already overstressed natural and man-made systems and

will increase natural hazard risks to people, ecosystems, and communities.