Wednesday 1 April 2009

Where are we all going to fit?

For many years now I've been concerned by overpopulation. To me it seems the most attributable factor to the other hugely damaging processes occurring to this planet we call home. Namely, deforestation, desertification, air pollution and thus by implication global warming.

Add to this malaise the lack of clean water in many areas and the subsequent competition for it, and it's clear we're reaching a tipping point. Just a few years ago CNN reported 'in 1999 the world population reached 6 billion, and in the relatively short time between 2007 and 2050, there could be roughly 2.4 billion more people on Earth needing clean water, space and other natural resources from their environment in order to survive'. Clearly unsustainable and alarming, especially when we stop to consider the waste and rubbish generated by a world population of 9 billion.

That's the global picture but yesterdays news headline brought another factor to the equation. A miracle pill that dramatically decreases the chances of a heart attack and strokes in the over 50's. Since these are two of the most likely causes of death in that age group it means in the future more and more of us by the advances of medicine will be able to live longer. Great stuff but it does lead to the question of where are we all going to fit?

For many years now I've watched in the UK as huge tracts of land have been swallowed up by contractors and reborn as identikit housing estates that haven't a shred of individuality between them. What's more, the build quality would seem so uniformly shoddy it can only be a matter of time before the whole process will need to start again. Hills and woods that I used to play in as a child no longer exist for the generations that follow. In my parents home town I watched incredulously as a river had it's flow channel altered so houses could be built on the land scavenged. These sames houses are now at the mercy of the historical flood plain that they were built on. This relentless march of urbanisation seems to have no end.

I live in Croydon which has a reputation of a town that has seen better days, and even those days tottered on the wrong side of average. Its a mish mash of concrete, jagged misshapen skyline, architecture from different eras crammed together and a huge flyover built around, over and below it. And if you take a journey on the tram (as I often do) you'll see it has an element to its population that are *ahem* undesirable to say the least. But it does have it's redeeming features. Some of the recent rebuilding in the area has shown imagine and verve, the plans for the next 20 years or so feature architecture to be rightly proud of; building on derelict areas it'll revitalise the city, introduce green areas, attract investment and business and will have a real chance of giving croydon the city status it so wantonly craves.

So surely a good thing? After all, most of the rebuilding is on derelict land; Croydon, rather than taking land and urbanfying it, is regenerating that which has gone before. Well, yes and no, because the other day I saw something that highlighted to me the problem of overpopulation. A new prestigious block of apartments are being built that look cool, shiny and desirable. Except; except, for the fact they are being built on the middle of a roundabout. Yes, a roundabout. With a subsequent view of a convergence of three main roads. How very 2009.

People have got to be housed somewhere as our species continues to explode across the planet and if it means building on land in the middle of a roundabout, then so be it. But for me, its just a small worrying sign that perhaps we really are running out of room - a local example of a very real global problem.