Once again we have a solution to a social condition based purely on logistics and economics. While Michael Keating eloquently argues the case for higher population density his hypothesis is based on a one-dimensional world outlook: static, bottom-line economics. It totally ignores the dynamics of a profoundly changing environment. With mounting evidence that the planet is entering the tipping point scientists have warned us of for decades, planning based on linear 20th Century economic modelling is woefully obsolete.
Around the world, we have already witnessed temperatures able to bring major cities to a standstill. Our current economies and our infrastructure are vulnerable as they are; we are going to have to radically reinvent ourselves. Cramming more people into high-density heat banks is not a 21st Century option.
The benign Holocene that took us from Stone Age to Digital Age has been replaced by the Anthropocene. Facing the hostility of an overheated atmosphere, an overpopulated planet has a tumultuous future ahead of it. A good step would be to future-proof our housing stock and plan our cities for temperatures beyond current imagination.