Associate professor of geography William Meyer joined Steven Cherry in conversation for a podcast called Techwise Conversations. The podcast series is from Spectrum, hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Meyer was on the show to talk about his book, The Environmental Advantages of Cities, published in March by MIT Press. The podcast episode is called “The Environmental Advantages of Cities – Countering Commonsense Antiurbanism”.
Listen to the conversation here:
Some highlights of the 17-minute conversation:
- Urbanization reduces population growth.
- Life expectancy is higher in cities.
- The exceptions are third world cities, which are the worst living places in the whole world.
- Cities are much more efficient in the consumption of resources.
- Map total energy use and you’ll see a big peak in the urban core.
- Map energy use per capita, and you’ll you see a big crater in the urban core.
Your turn – what do you think of the argument?