POST-OIL CITIES: FUTUR SCENARIOS
Conference and debate
Daniel Lerch Urban planner, USA. www.postcarboncities.net
Lluís Sabadell Artiga Artist and curator, Post-Oil Cities, ES. www.postoilcities.org
12.05.2011 at 18.00h
Related activity to QUAM2011
Almost all activities in our society are, directly or indirectly, oil dependent. OIL is not only used to generate energy - we use it mainly in transport, but it is also used in food production (fertilisers, pesticides...), clothing, dyes, plastics, varnishes, hygiene products, etc.. In less than a century, oil has modelled cities and society as we know them today, with all their progress and growth, but also their want and especially the consequences arising from these, such as overexploitation of the planet, pollution and climate change.
To depend entirely on a single material causes a huge vulnerability, especially if it is non-renewable, with a finite amount which will eventually run out after production first stagnates and then falls, in a process known as Peak Oil.
Our current cities have grown, been designed and are organised from unctional patterns based on the use and availability of cheap oil, but we know that this must change in years to come. Why not start thinking, organizing and planning our cities today, for the time beyond oil?
Daniel Lerch (Post Carbon Cities Institute, author of the book of the same name) will talk about the energy and climate uncertainties we face by concentrating on cities. He will analyse the phenomenon of Peak Oil - which signifies the end of the era of cheap oil, and how this will affect our cities and our everyday lives, finally proposing a series of recommendations
to local agencies, governments and civil society so they can tackle this future energy and climate uncertainty.
Finishing the session, Lluis Sabadell Artiga (Post Oil Cities) will present a series of inspirational projects from around the world, analysing the strategies developed to confront a future that must necessarily go through a shift in energy paradigm.
