Cities, no cities
People are moving to cities, esp. in China, possibly in India too, because of the convinces brought by living together, the supply of power, water, gas and other utility services, up to the North of China, we also supply hot water heating service during the winter. It is unmatchable if you are living in the rural area, like in my village, we don’t have central heating system at winter, we have to burn coals within our own household stove for heating, we don’t have access natural gas services right in the pipes , at even more remote areas, you even have to generate your own electricity, bring water from far away places. the labor and money applied is enormous comparing people in urban areas.
But, seems there’s always a but somewhat, just like the recently earthquake/ tsunami hited Japan, there’s no power, the utilities company halted the supplier of gas and electricity, water might be not available at some places, just read news from Reuters:
Factbox: Japan quake impact on energy, commods and manufacturers:
UTILITIES
– Power outages occurred in some areas covered by Tokyo Electric Power Co and Tohoku Electric Power Co.
– Tokyo Electric selected five areas with electricity demand of 5 million kilowatts each for rolling blackouts of three hours each, beginning on Monday.
– Tohoku Electric decided on Monday to follow suit and start similar rolling blackouts.
– Electric Power Development (J-Power) halted operations at its 600-megawatt Isogo No.2 thermal plant in Yokohama on Friday after the quake but resumed normal operation on Saturday, a spokesman said. The 600-MW No.1 plant is shut for regular maintenance.
– Tokyo Gas Co said it had stopped supplying gas to more than 35,000 households and facilities.
– Tokyo Electric Power said it had restarted operations at a 350 MW oil-fired unit in Tokyo.
Other companies said they had halted plants in the region as workers were evacuated following tsunami warnings or due to power outages. They include Asahi Kasei Corp, GlaxoSmithKline, JSR, Nestle, Nippon Paper Group, Sapporo Breweries Ltd and Morinaga Milk Industry.
Also in any other emergence situations, like war, cities are also not an advantage.
Food for thought,just like everything, rural, urban, each got its strengths as well as weaknesses, it depends, and, since we are having more and more people, cities, magacities, which might be our only choice, also true for nuclear, bio-tech & gene-modified foods. ..
Having seen a book from Amazon, by Steward Brand:
“Whole Earth Discipline: Why Dense Cities, Nuclear Power, Transgenic Crops, Restored Wildlands, and Geoengineering Are Necessary”
Seems it is a book worth reading, I will consider that, it is in my wishlist now.
A Way Of Life 