The Future of Cities

Global cities occupy 2% of the world’s surface and yet they are home to more than half of the world’s population (3.75 billion people), responsible for 75% of global energy consumption, and 80% of CO2 emissions. What are the environmental and health impacts of these growing global cities?
In these urban centers, where over three-fourths of the growing population will reside by 2050, the air pollution exceeds safety limits, containing excessive levels of sulfate, nitrates, and black carbon. When the air pollution is too great, the health and lives of urban residents are put at risk. This excessive air pollution causes an estimated 3 million deaths every year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 94% of these deaths arise in the form of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, strokes, and lung cancer. Even though the rate of high pollution levels seems daunting, they can be mitigated and overcome by a change to more sustainable practices, like the introduction of eco-cities.
Eco-cities are human settlements that are committed to working as a self-sustaining structure, like a natural ecosystem, without consuming more natural resources than it produces, limiting the amount of waste it produces, and functioning without impacting neighboring ecosystems. Already, over 2,500 cities have submitted carbon emission reduction plans to the United Nations, with a potential to cut over 500 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2030! Neem is the perfect addition to these eco-cities, as it is one of the best tree species in air filtration and carbon sequestration. Due to its high sequestration ability, neem is ideal for reforestation efforts, with its high carbon sequestration rate of 14 µmol of CO2 m-1 sec-1, enough to eliminate 12.27 tons of carbon per year! Neem even serves as a filter for pollutants in the air and cleanses your skin and body of the toxins it absorbs from living in urban areas, defining its prowess as the tree of the sustainable eco-city. How sustainable is your city?