City Of The Future?

Tarrel · Post by **Tarrel** » 30 Jan 2014, 17:35

I've just got back from Marrakech. After a very busy Autumn we needed a break and some extra daylight, and we're both interested in the handcrafts that are an integral part of Berber culture. So we went there.

We stayed in the heart of the Medina (the old walled city) in a B&B and spent our days wandering around and enjoying the change of scene.

It struck me that, old as Marrakech's Medina is, it may represent a good model for energy-descent city-living. It's easy to imagine energy-descent living in a low population density, rural or village context. But, for me, I've always struggled with the idea of how a highly populous city could operate with relatively low energy requirements and a consequently lower emissions footprint.

The Medina is not large (you can cross it on foot in about half an hour) but it is incredibly dense. As you'd expect in a hot climate, many of the buildings are designed around internal courtyards, with the external walls abutting other buildings, often on three sides.

The Medina was traditionally organised as a series of communities (villages within a city). It still functions largely like this today. Typically, each community has a communal water fountain, a Hammam (steam bath / wash house), a communal bakery and a mosque. People bring their bread dough to the bakery where it is baked for free. The bakery oven and the water for the Hammam are heated by the same wood-burning furnace. One fire, providing for the multiple needs of several families.

Each community has artisans specialising in one or more crafts, including tinsmithing, blacksmithing, tanning, dying, leatherwork, tailoring and woodwork. There is a kind of internal market in the city, in which raw materials are traded and turned into progressively more useful or value-added end-products. Of course, tourists at the moment represent a large part of the top of this food-chain, but one can imagine trade going on between the city and outlying villages, exchanging food for such things. A lot of manufacture was being done by hand, or using hand-powered machinery. I came back with a design for a hand powered wood-turning lathe, far smaller and less complex than the pole-lathes you see in Britain.

Transport of choice in the narrow lanes and alleys is foot, bicycle, moped or donkey. There are some truly imaginative conversions of mopeds and bikes into cargo-carrying machines. Cars are a rarity.

Looking across the roofline, the city is a sea of solar thermal water heaters (though, interestingly, not very much solar PV - maybe they just don't need much electricity). Our B&B was in one of the courtyard houses. I imagine it must be relatively cool in summer. In January, evening temps were around 4 degrees. The house had a removable polythene cover over the courtyard to keep heat in and rain out, and a wood fire in the evening which provided ample heat.

We went to a photography museum (my passion!) which had images of street scenes in the Medina from as early as 1875. Things haven't really changed much.

I know this city is functioning in a wider context of Tourist Wealth and the larger New Town surrounding it, but one gets the feeing that, if all of this was taken away, and what remained was the Medina and the villages and the agricultural land surrounding it, it could function with little fossil-fuel input. The overall impression for me was one of human endeavour. Virtually everyone you saw was engaged in some form of practical activity; sorting, making, finishing, selling, cooking, moving stuff, chores, etc. Doing stuff!

One of the most interesting things was the little hole-in-the-wall garages with folks stripping down, cleaning and sorting old engine components for re-sale. I'm sure we'll see these kinds of scavenging/harvesting operations springing up in our own cities as resources become ever more scarce and expensive.

Could I live there? Well, yes, I think I could. It had a great feel.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 30 Jan 2014, 18:06

That's very interesting, especially given the 4 degC bit. Otherwise you'd just have seen me say "Well all that's easy in a hot climate...". But, here in the cold, living closer together would help keep us warm for less, too.

Tarrel · Post by **Tarrel** » 30 Jan 2014, 18:13

Yes, daytime highs were around 12-14 deg, and we had a couple of very wet, dreary afternoons, following which parking coats and shoes by the fire was the order of the day.

Having said that, there's no getting away from the fact that it is a predominantly dry, desert climate. OH made an interesting observation that the shady courtyards would soon become mould and algae-prone in our much damper climate.

boisdevie · Post by **boisdevie** » 30 Jan 2014, 18:29

I'm off to Tahiti next week. Well, with this dreary weather I just need some sunshine and if all this unecessary air travel is buggering up the planet well frankly who cares.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 30 Jan 2014, 20:22

boisdevie wrote:I'm off to Tahiti next week. Well, with this dreary weather I just need some sunshine and if all this unecessary air travel is buggering up the planet well frankly who cares.

Hey there is no need of you rubbing your tropical vacation into the rest of us poor sots stuck in the dead of winter. High for the day here was -8C but with some sun was rather nice compared to recent days. Enjoy your little suncation. I hope you get a sunburn!!.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 31 Jan 2014, 10:45

boisdevie wrote:if all this unecessary air travel is buggering up the planet well frankly who cares.

A tiny minority of us.

boisdevie · Post by **boisdevie** » 31 Jan 2014, 12:53

emordnilap wrote:
boisdevie wrote:if all this unecessary air travel is buggering up the planet well frankly who cares.
A tiny minority of us.

I see the irony bypass operation has worked.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 31 Jan 2014, 12:56

emordnilap wrote:
boisdevie wrote:if all this unecessary air travel is buggering up the planet well frankly who cares.
A tiny minority of us.

I care. Rather a lot, as it happens.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 31 Jan 2014, 13:07

boisdevie wrote:
emordnilap wrote:
boisdevie wrote:if all this unecessary air travel is buggering up the planet well frankly who cares.
A tiny minority of us.
I see the irony bypass operation has worked.

Oh, you were being ironic. So you're not going? Or you do care? Come on, you know how I hate telepathy.

boisdevie · Post by **boisdevie** » 31 Jan 2014, 13:27

I care. A lot. I have not flown in a plane for about 10 years, basically once I thought what a bad thing it was. Problem is we're outnumbered by dimwits and selfish idiots.

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 31 Jan 2014, 13:44

boisdevie wrote:I care. A lot. I have not flown in a plane for about 10 years, basically once I thought what a bad thing it was. Problem is we're outnumbered by dimwits and selfish idiots.

No, you are outnumbered by 7 billion other people trapped in a game of prisoner's dilemma.

As the lemmings approach the cliff edge, they know it's a really bad idea. However, if any one unilaterally elects to stop walking, he gets trampled underfoot in short order.

So they keep walking.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 31 Jan 2014, 14:18

stevecook172001 wrote:
boisdevie wrote:I care. A lot. I have not flown in a plane for about 10 years, basically once I thought what a bad thing it was. Problem is we're outnumbered by dimwits and selfish idiots.
No, you are outnumbered by 7 billion other people trapped in a game of prisoner's dilemma.

As the lemmings approach the cliff edge, they know it's a really bad idea. However, if any one unilaterally elects to stop walking, he gets trampled underfoot in short order.

So they keep walking.

Funny, but I elected not to fly and haven't been trampled underfoot. But then I don't live on the way to an airport.

I'm more tempted to go on holiday in a nice place like Scotland than fly off to wherever it is you're going to. Which makes it easy not to want to fly.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 31 Jan 2014, 14:23

I booked my first flight in 10 years (apart from one hop over to Belfast) last week.

Visiting a relative who emigrated 20 years ago, before she dies.

Wife is threatening to fly to USA next year

Tarrel · Post by **Tarrel** » 31 Jan 2014, 14:33

Not sure how this turned into a thread about flying.

Still, never mind.

Any thoughts about the "future city" idea? it's easy to see the trends towards mass urbanisation in many parts of the world and build up a very negative picture of overcrowded, disorganised "cities on the edge", surrounded by depleted, over-exploited agricultural land. But this didn't feel like that. It changed my view a bit about future living patterns.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 31 Jan 2014, 14:43

The environment you describe has in all likelihood existed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It no doubt has its unique problems and would be viewed by many first worlders as unsavoury and unhygienic, amongst other things. But its persistence says much.

I'd be happy living in such a place; the relative absence of fossil fuel pollution would be a big draw for me, compensating for any lack of space.

I've often said, if I lived in a town, I'd not bother having a car (only hiring one when needed). Even now, living in the country, we hardly use ours.