1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:06,240 By now, you've probably heard a lot of the dire warnings about how the world's 2 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:11,120 population is growing at an unsustainable rate and we're consuming 3 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:15,640 far too many resources. Discussed solutions range from the practical to 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:20,320 the absolutely fantastical. But unless you're an 5 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:24,000 intractable nihilist that doesn't care about the survival of the human race, 6 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:29,039 you'll probably agree that we have to figure the problem out at some point. 7 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:32,680 And one of the most interesting ideas that has been proposed is the concept of 8 00:00:31,679 --> 00:00:37,960 the archology. Large self-contained 9 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:42,960 communities with minimal impact on the environment. But is this just the stuff 10 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:48,000 of science fiction? Or might millions of people be living in such a structure one 11 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:54,000 day? And just what the heck would that look like anyway? Well, archaeologies 12 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:59,440 have been conceptualized many ways, from tall skyscraper-l like structures to 13 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:05,119 self-sufficient groups of buildings closer to the ground. But they all have 14 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:08,320 one thing in common, some way to more 15 00:01:05,119 --> 00:01:10,720 densely pack living, working, and 16 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:15,680 recreationing spaces along with infrastructure to improve efficiency and 17 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:20,720 cut down on pollution and waste. Whoa, whoa, hold the phone there, Lionus. This 18 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:26,159 sounds like some sort of nightmare where we're all living in little sleeping pods 19 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:31,840 and eating meals in pill form. Well, it's not. In fact, there are real life 20 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:38,159 archology projects in the works right now. The most prominent of these is 21 00:01:34,479 --> 00:01:40,720 probably Masdar city in Abu Dhabi. This 22 00:01:38,159 --> 00:01:45,240 is an area of six square kilometers being developed with features like 23 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:50,720 automated driverless pods for transportation, a large solar plant, 24 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:55,520 water recycling, and creative use of architecture to provide forced air 25 00:01:52,799 --> 00:02:03,759 cooling without the need to suck tons of power, including a 150 foot tall wind 26 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:08,280 tower that flushes air downwards. Pretty 27 00:02:03,759 --> 00:02:10,720 cool. But Mastar lacks the wow factor 28 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:16,160 superstructure appearance that has been commonly depicted NVIDIA games like 29 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:18,400 Sim City and DSX. For something like 30 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:24,959 that, you'll have to go to Russia, where a project called Crystal Island is being 31 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:32,000 planned. And yes, the name is quite apt. At nearly half a kilometer tall with 27 32 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:37,280 million square feet of floor space, it would be one of the largest man-made 33 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:40,720 structures in the world. With the 34 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:42,560 outside covered by a special skin whose 35 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:49,200 purpose would be to provide climate control depending on the season and with 36 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:51,120 power provided by the sun and the wind. 37 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:55,920 The interior would be a mix of residential, commercial, and educational 38 00:02:53,760 --> 00:03:00,519 spaces. though there's no word yet on whether transportation will be provided 39 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:05,280 by a fleet of horses. Of course, as you might expect, 40 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:11,120 such massive undertakings tend to run into roadblocks. There are indeed people 41 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:15,680 already living and working in Mastar City, but completion has been pushed 42 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:19,840 back several times, and we may not see the finished product for more than a 43 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:24,720 decade. And the developers have actually backed off their promise of complete 44 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:29,040 carbon neutrality anyway. As for Crystal Island, they haven't even broken ground 45 00:03:26,879 --> 00:03:33,760 yet, partly due to the late 2000s financial crisis. So, it's not 46 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:37,920 surprising that it's more common to see places that use archology concepts 47 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:41,920 instead of fullyfledged, self-sufficient, highly integrated 48 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:46,080 cities. The Las Vegas strip, for example, features pedestrian walkways 49 00:03:44,239 --> 00:03:51,120 and bridges connecting many of the casinos, hotels, and businesses so that 50 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:55,760 you're often not walking down the street itself. and in many cases don't even 51 00:03:53,760 --> 00:04:00,720 have to go outside to get from point A to point B. And if we're only talking 52 00:03:58,239 --> 00:04:06,159 about the idea of containing things in a single building, large new skyscrapers 53 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:10,560 like the Shanghai Tower in China are increasingly borrowing ideas from 54 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:15,920 archies. Not only does the Shanghai Tower feature a kind of insulating skin 55 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:21,280 similar to what was imagined for Crystal Island, it has a prominent twist in it 56 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:25,840 which helps to repel wind that could otherwise cause the building to sway 57 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:30,240 without having to use extra construction materials. And although it's connected 58 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:33,800 to the main electrical grid, wind turbines at top the building provide 59 00:04:32,479 --> 00:04:39,919 around 350,000 kilowatt hours of extra power 60 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:43,520 per year for the offices and hotel rooms underneath. 61 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:47,840 But although projects like these might be giving us a glimpse at the future of 62 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:52,720 urban living, there's a debate swirling as to whether archylike structures that 63 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:56,720 are ultimately built will actually help us solve our problems with resource 64 00:04:54,560 --> 00:05:01,759 consumption and overpopulation or if they'll just turn into enclaves for the 65 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:05,280 wealthy. But don't despair if it turns out you're not loaded enough to be on 66 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:08,600 the cutting edge of sustainable living. 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