Cities are characterized by high population density.
City , from the Latin civitas , is the urban area that has a high population density , made up of inhabitants who are not usually dedicated to agricultural activities . The difference between cities and other urban entities is given by population density, legal status or other factors.
It is worth mentioning that there is no precise definition of this term. According to the European Statistical Conference in Prague , for example, a city is an agglomeration of more than 5,000 inhabitants where less than 25% of the population is dedicated to agriculture .
Characteristics of a city
Among the main characteristics of cities is the predominance of collective and vertical housing ( buildings ), the developed transport and communications infrastructure and the scarce land allocated for green spaces.
The high population density, the high presence of cars and other vehicles and the few green spaces mean that cities usually have levels of pollution that threaten health .
Large cities usually have a financial district, known as a city , which houses the main financial institutions and the headquarters of large companies. It is common for these financial districts to receive millions of people who come to work daily, and very few people live there permanently.
The Tokyo metropolitan area, with about 35,000,000 inhabitants, is considered the largest megacity in the world. Seoul (24,000,000), Mexico (22,000,000), New York (21,800,000), Bombay (21,100,000), Delhi (20,800,000) and São Paulo (20,300,000) are other of the most densely populated cities. populated.
Intense vehicular traffic is common in a city.
The Lilypad project
Warming , caused by our pollution, and the consequent melting of glaciers will raise sea level by a maximum of 90 centimeters throughout the current century. This situation is so serious that if the temperature increased by just one degree Celsius, this could result in an increase of one meter in sea level.
What would happen if such an increase occurred? Many regions with high levels of population density would be submerged; some areas of Holland, India and Bangladesh are just three examples of the potential victims of this massive flood . If, on the other hand, the sea level rose two meters, the scope of the catastrophe would be much greater, so much so as to turn New York, Miami, Alexandria and Bombay, among others, into new Venices , with terrible consequences on the planet. economic and with a balance greater than 250 million homeless people, who could no longer return to their own, which is why they would inevitably need to be relocated.
Taking these terrifying data into account, an architect of Franco-Belgian origin named Vincent Callebaut devised a floating city, under the name Lilypad, which promises to be energy clean and self-sufficient. One of its objectives is to expand the territory of countries located on the coasts, a task currently fulfilled by some artificial archipelagos; On the other hand, it would serve to give a new home to the millions of climate refugees.
A commitment to the city of the future
Each Lilypad would have enough capacity to accommodate more than 50,000 people, and would be built around a submerged lake, which would be supplied with rainwater . It would lead to the establishment of private homes, offices and even shopping centers; all aboard an island whose course would be decided by the wind and sea currents.
On the other hand, three ports would keep it connected to the rest of the world, and the suspended gardens and orchards that would cover it would allow the cultivation of food, ensuring its inhabitants enough resources to spend their entire lives there.
Finally, its name comes from English and refers to water lilies, from which it would also take its appearance, with a size 250 times larger.