Are Big, Rich Cities Greener Than Poor Ones?

More than half the world’s population lives in cities: “Consequently, a new science of cities is being fueled by the sudden availability of fascinating datasets collected from urban areas all over the world,” notes MIT Technology Review. As cities grow wages rise, drawing more residents; reliance on vehicles tends to decline. Overall, wealthier nations produce more emissions per capita than poorer nations do. Yet researchers with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany suggest that, in terms of carbon emissions, “big cities in rich countries are greener than small ones but big cities in poor ones are the opposite”; the transition occurs when GDP per capita exceeds $10,000.The researchers, as reported by the physics blog of arXiv.org, theorize that big cities in wealthy nations may be more efficient; cities in less developed nations may have more industry. Other studies contradict the findings, and one commenter notes that wealthy nations tend to transfer pollution-creating activities to poorer areas. The report urges better definition for urbanization and its many facets. – YaleGlobal