Architecture : This is what our cities will look like to survive in 2050

The beautiful book  Cities 2050  by Vincent Callebaut and Arnaud Pagès offers a dive into an ecological future, where cities are transformed to become resilient.

AD Magazine, By Annabelle Dufraigne, November 6, 2024

The future of cities will be ecological and inclusive, or it will not exist. This is the postulate of architect Vincent Callebaut in the new book Cities 2050, 10 actions of climate architecture for a desirable future published by Eyrolles. The main idea of the manifesto, led by Vincent Callebaut and journalist Arnaud Pagès, is to deliver a sustainable and virtuous vision of metropolises by 2050: green places, capable of absorbing global warming, migration, and depolluting the air and water. A utopia? On the contrary, while scientific predictions are alarming, Vincent Callebaut offers new generations an optimistic projection into the future, punctuated by ten actions of climate architecture . Bio-inspired architecture, regenerative circular economy, renewable energies… Here is a foretaste of what could well save our cities.

10 ecological architecture actions

Among the ten axes established by Vincent Callebaut, we have chosen to focus specifically on point no. 3 , the most impactful from a heritage point of view:

1 - Helping refugees

2 - Ensuring the food resilience of cities

3 - Transforming what already exists

4 - Renature the city

5 - Revolutionizing work

6 - Decarbonizing mobility

7 - Consume less, but better

8 - Reinventing cultural places

9 - Rehumanizing the hospital

10 - Recycle street furniture

Transforming what already exists

What does "transforming the existing" mean? The authors of the book answer: "adopting what is 'already there' and renovating the heritage . " This is a real challenge for cities like Paris, Lyon, or Bordeaux, built on an ancient heritage. "A historical millefeuille ," describes the book, combining many construction periods. It should be noted that France is a poor European student in terms of land sobriety, its urbanization being particularly rapid, to the detriment of natural ecosystems. The authors also teach us that the life cycle of a building is 70 to 100 years; it is therefore crucial to optimize the existing structure to make it suitable for contemporary and future life. In practice, it is a question of designing habitable buildings in a context of climate change , more sober in their energy consumption, without degrading the existing heritage.

Beneficial gardens

Vincent Callebaut's proposal to renovate the Spire of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is a striking example. It proposes to house, under its flamboyant Gothic roof, a green heart populated with orchards and vegetable gardens. The goal is to breathe new life into the building and provide the garden's harvests to the most deprived. All while respecting the building's heritage and its intrinsic spiritual serenity. This ecological and solidarity-based project was, unfortunately, not selected. Philippe Villeneuve's, which will be unveiled on December 8th at the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral , was chosen instead.

Dense urban forests

The reconversion of the Anciens Thermes Nationaux d'Aix-les-Bains, listed as a historic monument, also illustrates the desire to "transform the existing." Approved by the city's residents with 63% of votes and thus designated winner of the architectural competition launched in 2018, Vincent Callebaut's project is currently being implemented, with delivery scheduled for 2028. It consists of the creation of an urban forest with 220 collective housing units and various services (public services, shops, museum, restaurants and offices). The two forests created will be connected to the alpine nature already present on the site. "This resilient urban planning contributes to the revitalization of the neoclassical and Art Deco heritage of the Anciens Thermes Nationaux and boosts the attractiveness of the city center. The more dense a city is, the less energy-intensive it is ," explains the book.

Ultra-green facades

Another illuminating example is the proposal for the energy renovation of the Botanic Center in Brussels into a green office building . "Grey, banal and mineral" , this building will become, if Vincent Callebaut's project is accepted, energy self-sufficient and entirely covered in a "dense and luxurious" plant envelope, with nearly 10,000 plants throughout the structure, "giving it the appearance of a virgin forest" , the authors specify. Enough to inspire budding architects.

Cities 2050, 10 climate architecture actions for a desirable future, Eyrolles, Vincent Callebaut and Arnaud Pagès, 204 pages, 29.90 euros.