WEBVTT 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 00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:11.120 population is growing at an unsustainable rate and we're consuming 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:15.640 far too many resources. Discussed solutions range from the practical to 00:00:13.360 --> 00:00:20.320 the absolutely fantastical. But unless you're an 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:24.000 intractable nihilist that doesn't care about the survival of the human race, 00:00:22.240 --> 00:00:29.039 you'll probably agree that we have to figure the problem out at some point. 00:00:26.720 --> 00:00:32.680 And one of the most interesting ideas that has been proposed is the concept of 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:37.960 the archology. Large self-contained 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:42.960 communities with minimal impact on the environment. But is this just the stuff 00:00:40.160 --> 00:00:48.000 of science fiction? Or might millions of people be living in such a structure one 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:54.000 day? And just what the heck would that look like anyway? Well, archaeologies 00:00:51.360 --> 00:00:59.440 have been conceptualized many ways, from tall skyscraper-l like structures to 00:00:57.160 --> 00:01:05.119 self-sufficient groups of buildings closer to the ground. But they all have 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:08.320 one thing in common, some way to more 00:01:05.119 --> 00:01:10.720 densely pack living, working, and 00:01:08.320 --> 00:01:15.680 recreationing spaces along with infrastructure to improve efficiency and 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:20.720 cut down on pollution and waste. Whoa, whoa, hold the phone there, Lionus. This 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:26.159 sounds like some sort of nightmare where we're all living in little sleeping pods 00:01:23.360 --> 00:01:31.840 and eating meals in pill form. Well, it's not. In fact, there are real life 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:38.159 archology projects in the works right now. The most prominent of these is 00:01:34.479 --> 00:01:40.720 probably Masdar city in Abu Dhabi. This 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:45.240 is an area of six square kilometers being developed with features like 00:01:42.960 --> 00:01:50.720 automated driverless pods for transportation, a large solar plant, 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:55.520 water recycling, and creative use of architecture to provide forced air 00:01:52.799 --> 00:02:03.759 cooling without the need to suck tons of power, including a 150 foot tall wind 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:08.280 tower that flushes air downwards. Pretty 00:02:03.759 --> 00:02:10.720 cool. But Mastar lacks the wow factor 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:16.160 superstructure appearance that has been commonly depicted NVIDIA games like 00:02:13.040 --> 00:02:18.400 Sim City and DSX. For something like 00:02:16.160 --> 00:02:24.959 that, you'll have to go to Russia, where a project called Crystal Island is being 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:32.000 planned. And yes, the name is quite apt. At nearly half a kilometer tall with 27 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:37.280 million square feet of floor space, it would be one of the largest man-made 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:40.720 structures in the world. With the 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:42.560 outside covered by a special skin whose 00:02:40.720 --> 00:02:49.200 purpose would be to provide climate control depending on the season and with 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:51.120 power provided by the sun and the wind. 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:55.920 The interior would be a mix of residential, commercial, and educational 00:02:53.760 --> 00:03:00.519 spaces. though there's no word yet on whether transportation will be provided 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:05.280 by a fleet of horses. Of course, as you might expect, 00:03:03.040 --> 00:03:11.120 such massive undertakings tend to run into roadblocks. There are indeed people 00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:15.680 already living and working in Mastar City, but completion has been pushed 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:19.840 back several times, and we may not see the finished product for more than a 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:24.720 decade. And the developers have actually backed off their promise of complete 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:29.040 carbon neutrality anyway. As for Crystal Island, they haven't even broken ground 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:33.760 yet, partly due to the late 2000s financial crisis. So, it's not 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:37.920 surprising that it's more common to see places that use archology concepts 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:41.920 instead of fullyfledged, self-sufficient, highly integrated 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:46.080 cities. The Las Vegas strip, for example, features pedestrian walkways 00:03:44.239 --> 00:03:51.120 and bridges connecting many of the casinos, hotels, and businesses so that 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:55.760 you're often not walking down the street itself. and in many cases don't even 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 00:03:58.239 --> 00:04:06.159 about the idea of containing things in a single building, large new skyscrapers 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:10.560 like the Shanghai Tower in China are increasingly borrowing ideas from 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:15.920 archies. Not only does the Shanghai Tower feature a kind of insulating skin 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:21.280 similar to what was imagined for Crystal Island, it has a prominent twist in it 00:04:18.880 --> 00:04:25.840 which helps to repel wind that could otherwise cause the building to sway 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:30.240 without having to use extra construction materials. And although it's connected 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:33.800 to the main electrical grid, wind turbines at top the building provide 00:04:32.479 --> 00:04:39.919 around 350,000 kilowatt hours of extra power 00:04:36.960 --> 00:04:43.520 per year for the offices and hotel rooms underneath. 00:04:41.520 --> 00:04:47.840 But although projects like these might be giving us a glimpse at the future of 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:52.720 urban living, there's a debate swirling as to whether archylike structures that 00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:56.720 are ultimately built will actually help us solve our problems with resource 00:04:54.560 --> 00:05:01.759 consumption and overpopulation or if they'll just turn into enclaves for the 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 00:05:03.440 --> 00:05:08.600 the cutting edge of sustainable living. I hear that urban composting is actually 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:13.280 trendy. 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