Ancient clocks used water to measure time. Image: “Escapement animation” uploaded by Jacopo Werther, 2004. Creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.
Prometheus may have stolen fire, but ancient Greeks also believed that water stole time. Early clocks used water, acquiring the technical term, clepsydra, from ancient Greek “klepto or steal” and “hydor or water.” Water clocks measure time by regulating and measuring the drip rate into a vessel.
Clepsyrda or water clock, circa 1753. Donated to wikimedia by Käyttäjä Oh1qt for public domain. Included with appreciation.
Popular across the world from China, Egypt, and Persia, the clepsydra was one of the first ways in which humans measured time in exact increments. Water clocks became so sophisticated and complex that they were able to adjust rates of water flow for solar and lunar orbits.
Al-Jazari’s water clock, 12th century is consider by some to be the first analog computer. Image courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acquisition 14.533. Public domain and included with appreciation.
Water clocks could adjust and measure seasonal length of daylight to regulate agricultural cycles. Al-Jazari’s castle clock is said by some to be the world’s first programmable analog computer.
Water clocks were prized in Madinat as-Salam, City of Peace, now known as Baghdad. Here, water clock from Zibad, Gonabad Province, Iran, by photographer Maahmaah, 2012, dedicated to the public domain. Included with appreciation.
Water clocks were technological possessions prized by those who ruled and managed. When Caliph al-Mansur founded a new capital of Persia, Madinat as-Salam, “City of Peace” in the Islamic calendar year 145 (ce 762). The city, now known as Baghdad, flourished. When fifth Caliph Harun al-Rashid (ruler from 786 to 809 ce) of The Arabian Nights came to power, the city was reputed to be the wealthiest of the world. It was known for a balance of commerce and agriculture, the latter advanced by use of the water clock regulating drawing of water by farmers. The device was entrusted to and managed by an appointed elder who kept irrigation timetables. Caliph Harun al-Rashid visited Roman Emperor Charlemagne, bringing gifts including a water clock so delicate that it had to be conveyed in parts and assembled on site, prior to a live demonstration of this new technology of time.
Charlemagne received by Pope Adrian. Image from art by Antoine Vérard, 1493. Public domain: included with appreciation.
For Charlemagne, who surrounded his court with scholars and teachers including Alcuin, and who is often credited with founding the earliest universities, the water clock was a revelation so important it was recorded in the Royal Frankish Annals.
Charlemagne, as king of the Franks and emperor of Rome, was part of a lineage that valued precise measurements of time. But these measurements were of the year. It was Julius Caesar who, on 1 January 45 (bce) refined the Roman calendar to be more consistent with the solar cycle. The Julian Calendar had three years of 365 days, followed by a fourth with a leap day as the final in February. The succeeding Gregorian calendar fine-tuned the system that much of the world follows today.
Stamp from Germany celebrating 400 years of Gregorian calendar that codified Leap Day. “400 Jahre Gregorianischer Kalendar, 1982.” Image scanned by NobbiP, public domain. Included with appreciation.
Since then, leap day has inspired traditions. Brigid of Kildare commented to Patrick of Ireland (both canonized and now addressed as Saints), in the 5th century ce, that women’s rights were not equal to men’s, as evidenced by the tradition that men propose marriage yet the union required true partnership. Patrick agreed that women could and should propose, but limited that freedom to one day per year, on leap year.
St. Brigid of Kildare conferred with St. Patrick of Ireland concerning women’s equal rights including proposing marriage – on Leap Day. Image: “St. Patrick and St. Brigid” by Catherine O’Brien, 2023. Posted by Spideoglasper, Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.
France, home of the Eiffel Tower where many marriage proposals are initiated and photographed, took another direction. In 1980, Jacques Debuisson and Christian Bailly launched a tradition of publishing a satirical newspaper La Bougie du Sapeur just once a year, on Leap Day. Only 200,000 copies are printed: there is no digital edition.
La Bougie du Sapeur is published in France on Leap Day. Image: Logo, 2016. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.
How do you celebrate Leap Day? What leap of faith – or frolic – will you take?
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U
Los Angeles, with the Hollywood sign overlooking the city, is the home of many striking actors of SAG-AFTRA seeking better rights. Image: “Hollywood Sign” by photographer Thomas Wolf. Creative Commons 3.0 Included with appreciation.
Human history may be traced in the move from field to city, from local farm to industrial agriculture, and with that – from indentured field serf to urban worker. Some sociologists say that human history is the history of cities. Cities may also be the birthplace of human, and worker, rights. An example: Wolfsburg, Germany, began as the Duchy of Magdeburg, then became the Stadt des KdF-Wagnes bei Fallersleben (“City of Strength Through Joy at Fallersleben”) as a planned town built to house workers for a factory producing the Volkswagen Beetle car. Volkswagen workers organized labor unions through collective agreements ensuring rights of more than 120,000 workers through the Volkswagen Group Global Works Council (GWC).
“VW factory, Wolfsburg, Germany” by photographer HasBS, 2011. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.
From the days of Charlemagne and into medieval times, as workers began to move into cities, they organized crafts and trades into guilds. The word “guild” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “gild” and is related to “geld” meaning money. We still have an echo in today’s word for money in German: Das Geld. In medieval times, each guild member paid a set amount of money into a common fund to support worker training (apprentice, journeyworker, mastercraftsperson) and family benefits for the wellbeing of workers’ health and family support in the case of injury or death. Guilds morphed into trade unions when the owners of businesses changed to outside investors who were not craftpersons themselves. Labor rights were born in the city and have continued to find their growth in urban environments.
Medieval cities were effectively run by guilds representing all the crafts and trades of the local and regional economy. Guilds set worker rights, wages, and benefits. Image: “Coats of arms displaying the tools of the trades in a medieval town of the Czech Republic,” Photo by VitVit, 2008. Creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation,
Workers and Rights. Some credit present day labor rights activist Robert Owen, a manufacturer from Wales, with the concept of the eight-hour workday. In 1817, Welsh advocated 8/8/8/ (eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest). Fifty years later, workers in Chicago demanded the Illinois Legislature to pass a law limiting work to eight hours per day. Although the law passed, a loop hole remained and many factory laborers were still overworked and underpaid. On May 1, 1867, they went on strike. The movement shut down Chicago, and soon other cities across the United States and Europe joined the strike. That event in 1867 led to what is now known as May Day or International Workers’ Day.
International Workers’ Day, May 1, 2013, Austria. Image by photographer Johannes Zinner, 2013. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.
Labor. Peter McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners first voiced in 1882 the call for a holiday for “the laboring classes who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.” McGuire’s message echoed that of the medieval guilds: labor and work are forms of art and should be treasured and honored by a holiday. A leader of a similar surname, Matthew Maguire, secretary of Local 344 of the International Machinists, proposed the same holiday. Their messages were heard.
First American Labor Day parade in New York City on 5 September 1882. Image: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper issue dated 16 September 1882. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.
In the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, 10,000 city workers gathered in New York City on 5 September 1882 to rally for improvement in labor conditions. When the American government even began tracking work hours in 1890, the average factory workers clocked in 100 hours per week. Ensuing years strengthened the movement for better working hours and recognition of the major role workers play in business and economics. Oregon was the first state to recognize Labor day but Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York soon joined. In 1894, the Pullman strike in Chicago, Illinois jammed rail traffic throughout the country. During the strike and crisis, President Grover Cleveland signed Labor Day into law, as Congress passed an act declaring a national holiday to honor labor on the first Monday in September. Finally, in 1894, Labor Day became an official national holiday. Canada also celebrates Labor Day, but most of the world honors workers on May 1.
“Fête du Travail” or “Labour Day” Parade in Toronto, Canada. on 5 September 2011. CAW Media. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.
Worker rights continue to be an important issue around the world. In some places, children labor. In other places, women cannot work outside the home. Factory workers are often subject to unhealthy and even lethal conditions: 1500 workers died in preventable factory disasters in the garment industry in fires one decade ago. The 2013 Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh made progress in setting new standards; a 2018 Transition Key Accord strengthened the standards to legally binding agreements between trade unions and brands; signatories include an oversight chair from the International Labour Organization (ILO)
“Garment Factory Worker in Bangladesh, 2015.” by Solidarity Center. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.
Women’s working rights are a special issue. Women make up 70% of the labor force in some export processing zones (EPZs) in Asia, the Americas, and Sub-Saharan Africa where some bans on unionization still exist. The ILO Equal Remuneration Convention (No. 100), Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation (No. 111), and Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183) have helped protect some rights but more is needed. In 1969, the International Labour Organization (ILO) received the Nobel Peace Prize; fifty years later, the ILO issued a new vision when convening the Global Commission on the Future of Work.
Every era brings new challenges for labor, work, and rights. In 2023, the union of Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) declared a strike approved by 98% of the members. One concern of the striking union members is the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and the expansion of streaming services.These artists joined the 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America who are also on strike. Again, the theme of the guild – and its blend of artistry and rights – finds a place in history.
Meryl Streep is one of the active supporters of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Image: “Meryl Street at Berlin Berlinale International Film Festival 2016.” by photographer Glyn Lowe Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.
If you are reading this post in Canada or in the United States, you may be enjoying a day of rest or even a traditional cook-out. But there is more to Labor Day than a long weekend. How will you celebrate and honor worker equality, justice, rights, and the fruits of our individual, and collective, labors?
Kaunonen, Gary and Aaron Goings. Community in Conflict. Michigan State Press, 2013.
Langley, Winston E. and Vivian C. Fox. Women’s Rights in the United States: A Documentary History. Praeger, 1994. ISBN: 978-0313287558.
Loomis, Erik. A History of America in Ten Strikes. The New Press, 2018.
Smith, Toulmin, Editor, with essay on history and development of the gilds by Lujo Brentano. “English Gilds: The Original Ordinances of more than One Hundred Early English Guilds,” Oxford University Press. Digital facsimile by University of Michigan. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/EGilds?rgn=main;view=fulltext
As above, so (much more) below! Cities can be 18F/10C hotter (0r as high as 20C) below, creating underground climate change. Image: “Morning sunrise above Suwon Gwanggyo Lake with City in Background” by photographer Matthew Schwartz, 2016. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.
“As above, so below,” goes the saying. Just one look at a large city’s skyscrapers and buildings will hint at the massive infrastructure below. But did you know that climate change, experienced by the occupants of those buildings, is also lurking beneath their urban landscape? Our cities are suffering under heat domes, but it is even hotter below.
Machinery under buildings is related to “underground climate change,” a growing urban concern. Image: “Underfall Yard Pumps” by photographer Blythe Varney, 2017. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.
Problem: The technical term is subsurface heat islands, but it’s easier to think of it as underground climate change. Equipment below skyscrapers generates heat; subways and tunnels create conditions that increase warmth. Pipelines under the ground, even sewers, are sources of subsurface heat. Land around and below large structures changes when heated, triggering slight shifts in topography. Foundations begin to erode; tunnels weaken; train rails warp; retaining walls may show cracks, then collapse.
Subway systems under major cities are one source of underground climate change. Image: “Washington, DC – Farragut West Station, 2018” by photographer Tdorante10. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.
Example: A study by Professor Alessandro F. Rotta Loria of Northwestern University placed sensors under buildings and transport infrastructure in Chicago, Illinois, noting that the ground below was measurably hotter than surface land (a difference of 18F/10C). Professor Rotta Loria studies subsurface urban heat islands, warning that “underground climate change can represent a silent hazard for civil infrastructure…but also an opportunity to reutilize or minimize waste heat in the ground.” (Rotta Loria, 2023).
Underground climate change can weaken retaining walls. Image: “Wallstones Breaking” drawing by Dimitry Borshch, 2008. Creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.
Difficulty: Because it is out of sight, underground climate change is difficult to recognize – until a retaining wall breaks. Think of it as similar to the gradual change in an iceberg below the water: slow, relentless, and then tragic. Or a slow earthquake: not sudden – until it is.
Chicago’s buildings are hotter underground by as much as 18F/10C. Image: “Chicago Skyline” by photographer Jesse Collins. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.
Scale Counts: The bigger the city, the more likely underground climate change is happening. The study cited above was conducted in Chicago: population 2.6 million (2022). The study performed simulations over 100 years: from 1951 when subway tunnels were built under Chicago’s downtown “Loop” to projections until 2051. It is not unique to Chicago. Some of the world’s megacities, with populations over 10 million, could suffer significant damage. Megacities are dense, encouraging high rise construction that may exacerbate underground climate change. Cities that are growing quickly may be particularly vulnerable. For example, the most populous city of Nigeria, and its former capital before the new capital of Abuja was built in 1991, Lagos is among the world’s top ten fastest-growing cities. Another city vulnerable to underground climate change? Tokyo, Japan: population 37 million.
Dense, populous megacities may be the most vulnerable to underground climate change. Image: “Oloosa Market in Lagos, Nigeria,” by Omoeko Media, 2018. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.
Emerging Answers: There are two approaches – prevent waste heat underground, or use it. In the area of prevention: new urban building codes, especially for dense cities, will need to place more emphasis insulation and energy efficient design. But secondly, waste heat could be used as an energy resource. Geothermal innovations that capture waste heat from the subsurface can find a use for that energy. Innovations for use of waste energy will become an area of significant potential.
“Climate Change Icon” by Tommaso.sansone91. Created in 2019 and dedicated by the designer to the public domain. Included with appreciation.
Above/Below: We tend to focus on mitigating climate change by addressing what we can see and feel. Noticeable effects are mainly above the ground. But there will also be great need – and opportunity for innovation – below. Is your city likely to experience underground climate change? What are some of the ways your city can measure, assess, plan to address, and even harness for beneficial use, underground climate change?
Rotta Loria, Alessandro F. “The silent impact of underground climate change on civil infrastructure.” 11 July 2023. Communications Engineering 2, 44 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-023-00092-1
“Presidential Inauguration 1905.” Library of Congress, image.
Washington, D.C., setting of two distinctly disparate 2021 events on 6 January and 20 January, was designed for public gatherings in wide open spaces. Major Pierre L’Enfant, born in France but an ardent supporter of the American Revolutionary War who volunteered to serve in the Corps of Engineering of the Continental Army, met George Washington and proposed himself as the designer of the country’s new capital. In L’Enfant’s vision, wide avenues would radiate from the house of Congress and the house of the President. L’Enfant sketched 15 open spaces for gatherings and monuments: L’Enfant stated that open spaces were as important as buildings.
Washington Mall, site of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech of 1963, and of 200,000 flags heralding the Biden-Harris Inauguration of 2021. Image: “National Mall, Washington, D.C.” wikimedia.
L’Enfant may have been influenced by the design of a renovated Paris, France, by Georges-Eugène Haussmann, who enlarged the boulevards for two reasons: better air circulation to lessen the spread of viral disease, and large public gathering spaces. Paris still benefits from these two reasons, as does Washington.
“L’Enfant’s Plan of Washington, D.C., 1887.” National Register of Historic Places: 97000332. Image: Library of Congress.
L’Enfant ‘s grand vision was almost lost. Apparently there was a dispute, and L’Enfant fled the city with the detailed plans. Enter Benjamin Banneker. Bannekar, who had attended a one-room school while studying independently with his grandmother, was known for mathematical brilliance when he came to work with Major Andrew Ellicott as a surveyor to establish the District of Columbia’s official capital borders.
Benjamin Banneker, from Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum. Wikimedia.
Among Banneker’s considerable talents was a photo-perfect memory. L’Enfant’s design was imprinted on the surveyor’s mind and, according to some reports, soon reproduced for completion by Benjamin Banneker.
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture site, in Washington, D.C., is within an area now named Benjamin Banneker Park. Banneker also wrote an almanac, with an inaugural publication entitled: Benjamin Banneker’s Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord 1792. Banneker corresponded with Thomas Jefferson, and published abolitionist material advocating a vision in part realized, in the capital he helped design, with the inauguration of Barack Obama on 20 January 2009, and 20 January 2021, the inauguration day of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Washington, D.C., joins a small group of designed cities in history. Baghdad was created from a drawing of three concentric circles etched by sword in the sand. Abuja, Nigeria’s new capital, was influenced by Haussman’s Paris, as well as Washington, D.C., and Brasília was the first city designed to be seen from the air, and shaped like an airplane when seen from that vantage point. Capital cities are an iconic kind of urban center, embodying ideals of government and national values. In The New Science of Cities (2013), Michael Batty proposed that we see cities as systems of networks and flows. Arnold Toynbee, in Cities of Destiny, stated that cities, led with vision, may become incubators of art, culture, and science.
As Washington, D.C., takes on a new character in 2021, encouraged by inaugural address values of respect and unity, and led by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, how might L’Enfant’s and Banneker’s design give what Lawrence Durrell called the “spirit of place” to a new spirit of nation?
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and Vice President Kamala D. Harris. inaugurated in Washington, D.C., on 20 January 2021.
Batty, Michael. The New Science of Cities. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780262019521
Bedini, Silvio A. The Life of Benjamin Banneker. Rancho Cordova, CA: Landmark Enterprises, 1984.
Durrell, Lawrence. Spirit of Place: Letters and Essays on Travel. edited by Alan G. Thomas. Open Road: Integrated Media.
Keene, Louis. “Benjamin Banneker: The Black Tobacco Farmer Who Presidents Couldn’t Ignore.” White House Historical Association.
National Museum of African American History & Culture. “The NMAAHC Museum Site,” https://nmaahc.si.edu/nmaahc-museum-site.
August 22: Earth Overshoot Day 2020. Image: wikimedia commons.
World time zones came to us via the Canadian Pacific Railway, and clocks are as old as the hourglass or the water clock famously given to Caliph al-Mansur, founder of Baghdad, by a visiting Byzantine emperor. But now there is a new way of reckoning time.
Earth Overshoot Day, calculated by the Global Footprint Network and the National Footprint & Biocapacity Accounts (NFA) with data from 2016 forward from the United Nations (15,000 data points per country, per year), is that day each year when humans have used up all the resources Earth can renew, that year. From Earth Overshoot Day on, the rest of the year racks up an “environmental deficit.”
Climate change is hard to grasp, because it is gradual. How can we “tell climate time?” The Doomsday Clock (maintained since 1947 by atomic scientists) is one way; it started as a nuclear threat measurement but now includes climate change. Earth Overshoot Day may help us to learn how to reset that clock. In 2019, Earth Overshoot Day was three weeks earlier: in other words, 2020’s pandemic and resultant decrease in resource-consumption and energy emissions reduced our carbon footprint and bought us some time. No one would wish to repeat the pandemic, but considering planned ways for Earth to take a Sabbath might help us apply lessons learned in 2020 to rebuild back better.
“My home is my castle,” photographer J. Triepke, 2014. Image: wikimedia.
Summer holidays, like the traditional Fourth of July, may be observed in different ways by diverse communities, but many people enjoy a refreshing visit to the beach. Some build sand castles. Now, there may be something more permanent. Architect Magnus Larsson proposes combining sand with bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii (formerly known as Bacillus pasteurii); the process can produce biological cementation. You can build with it. Larsson wants to build a biologically-grown structure in the Sahara, perhaps in combination with the Great Green Wall of the Sahel. The architecture would support plantings, maybe even people, and won recognition from the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction.
Could generative architecture rebuild the desert? Image: “Mojave Desert Cave,” by photographer Joshua Sortino. Wikimedia.
Globally, 1/3 of all arable earth is dry, and vulnerable to drought and eventually turning to sand. The Gobi desert of China and the Sahara of Africa are especially threatened, but deserts like the Mojave in North America seek sustainable solutions. “One billion grains of sand come into being – each second,” states Larsson. Innovations related to deserts and desertification, like Jason DeJong‘s findings and Larsson’s sandstone walls and habitats, or the Great Green Walls of the Sahara and Gobi, may help to rebuild the world.
DeJong, Jason. “Geo-Technical Engineering and Innovation.” Geo-Institute of ASCE and University of California, Davis. https://youtu.be/Jvm-D9INVWs
LafargeHolcim. Headquartered in Switzerland, the company employs more than 70,000 people in the development of cement, aggregates, and innovation in building materials. https:/www.lafargeholcim-foundation.org.
Swayamdipta Bhaduri, Nandini Debnath, Sushanta Mitra, Yang Liu, Aloke Kumar. “Miocrobiologically Induced Precipitation Mediated by Sporosarcina pasteurii,” Journal of Visualized Experiments. 2016; (110) 53253. doi: 10.3791/53253/. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4941918/
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unp
“DJs at the club.” Photographer: Malagalabombonera, 2015. Image: wikimedia commons.
The wall fell down and so did a lot of other things on November 9, 1989. “No photos on the dance floor!” is an exhibition documenting Berlin’s club scene since the fall of the Wall. According to Felix Hoffmann, curator, “After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, clubs, bars, galleries, and studios began popping up everywhere, filing empty buildings, factories; the club scene became the driving force behind the city’s rejuvenation.” Hoffman believes that Germany was first reunited on the dance floor. The city was not officially re-united administratively until October 1990; meanwhile, there were yet no rules. Pop-up parties met in forests, drawing together thousands of people who were formerly kept apart. Many believe clubs like Metropol and Tresor fostered a dance and music culture that all people, despite their former differences, discovered together.
In Cities of Destiny, Arnold Toynbee explored the idea that some cities, at moments in history, generate a climate of exceptional capabilities; example, Athens in the age of Pericles or Cyrene. New capital cities, from Baghdad to Brasilia, are built-visions of a nation, offering both governance and culture. In the future, climate change may cause some coastal capitals to move inland; as Indonesia moves the capital from Jakarta, due to sea-rise, what might exemplify the new vision? Dance clubs could be a factor, for another reason:
Floors that give light (and sometimes delight). “Break Dance” by Kalka, 2008. Image: wikimedia commons.
If dance brings us together, Pavegen’s idea does double step: floors that generate electricity when people dance, or walk, over special tiles. Pavegen demonstrated the innovation at the London Olympics when the West Ham Tube station lit itself from electricity generated by 2012 Olympic Games attendees as they arrived at the tube step nearest the stadium. It may not be surprising that Pavegen got their early start in dance clubs.
Are capitals “moveable feasts?” Yes. History is filled with examples of capitals moved for new dynasties, new visions, coastal security, and more central political representation. In the future, we may see more relocations of capitals. Here’s three reasons:
EARTHQUAKES AND CAPITAL CITIES: There are other capitals, built on seismic ground, like Kathmandu or Tokyo, that may need to move. Another option, illustrated by Tokyo, might be to build a “spare battery” capital away from shaky ground. Indonesia is also earth-quake prone, located in the volcanic Ring of Fire; choice of a new capital location may require seismic assessment before a site is chosen.
What world capitals are vulnerable to shaky ground? At the time it was built, no one knew that Mexico City was located on ground susceptible to earthquakes. With a population of 20 million, the city is dense. Skyscraper towers can become “unintended object of mass destruction,” according to Michael Floyd of MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Loss of a command-and-control center that is a capital city can inhibit and delay disaster response, as seen when on 12 January 2010, Port-au-Prince, Haiti suffered the loss of records, legal documents, land, census data, tax records, and tragic loss of life, during an earthquake that damaged the government building.
RISING SEAS AND COASTAL CAPITALS: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Lagos, Nigeria are former capitals that ceded succession to Brasilia and Abuja. Both Rio and Lagos are ports. Many great capital cities were built as ports, among them Jakarta. Now, Indonesia may move its capital. Rising seas will inundate many capitals that also serve as ports.
NEW CAPITAL, NEW VISION: Moving a capital can mean a shift in demographic clout, inviting political power to more central areas of a nation. Jakarta is considering an area of Borneo. Will Mexico City plan a new Distrito Federal perhaps also serving as a regional capital for the Americas?
NEXT STEPS FOR CAPITALS IN EARTHQUAKE ZONES: The massive urban centers that are capitals, even if the government center moves, will still remain vulnerable. Earthquakes will continue: what can be done to preserve and protect cities built on shaky ground?
Davidson, Frank P. and Kathleen Lusk Brooke. “Cities in Danger,” Building the Future, 2012. pages 65-97. University of Massachusetts Boston, Healey Library.
Ergintav, S, R.E. Reilinger, R. Cakmak, M. Floyd, Z. Cakir, U. Dogan, et al. “Istanbul’s earthquake hot spots: Geogetic constraints on strain accumulation along faults in the Marmara seismic gap.” Geophysical Research Letters 41, no. 16 (22 August 2014): 5783-5788.
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Licen
Rivers and canals of Jakarta, Indonesia. Image: wikimedia.
MOVING THE CAPITAL DUE TO SEA RISE: Jakarta, Indonesia is the fastest sinking city on earth. Sea rise threatens the city, located on land intersected by 13 rivers. A busy port, Jakarta is congested and dense; heavy port buildings weigh down the terrain. As the capital, Jakarta also supports government, industry, and a burgeoning population. Residential and industrial water needs result in considerable pumping from the rivers, further draining the land mass. Another burden of density: traffic – Jakarta’s is among the world’s worst. And then there’s the residential buildings: 10 million people call Jakarta home, making it one of the world’s megacities. Skyscrapers dot the skyline, adding weight. Jakarta has sunk eight feet in the past decade, and the subsidence continues. Half of the city is below sea level.
Baghdad, surrounded by the Tigris River. Image: wikimedia.
NEW CAPITAL, NEW VISION: Changing the capital of a country is not unique in history. Baghdad was founded with a new vision, drawn as three concentric circles with a stroke of the Caliph’s sword marking the new capital. As Baghdad rebuilds, will Frank Lloyd Wright‘s plans and drawings bring Al Mansur’s vision to life as Madinat as-Salam, “City of Peace?” Other times, capitals moved inland from ports: Lagos, a port city, begat Abuja, moving Nigeria’s capital to a central location designed with vision and values including Haussmann’s Paris and L’Enfant’s and Banneker’s Washington, D.C. Rio de Janeiro ceded its position as capital to Brasilia, in part because the city of Ipanema beach became too dense; coastal location also meant vulnerability. The new capital, Brasilia, was central to the diverse country, representing a wider vision. Lucio Costa designed the new capital to be built in the shape of an airplane; Brasilia was the first city built to be seen from the air.
Costa’s Plan for Brasilia, in the shape of an airplane. Image: Library of Congress.
NEW BALANCE OF POWER: Just as Brazil chose an inland location, and Nigeria selected Abuja to relate to the center of the country, so Indonesia’s possible choice of an area of Borneo might represent a wider view. Palangka Raya is in consideration, in part due to a previous proposal by first president (1945-1967) Sukarno.
FUTURE OF COASTAL LOCATIONS IN CLIMATE CHANGE: Jakarta is a case example of the future. Rising seas may inundate some of the greatest cities in the world, many built as ports. As Indonesia begins to move its capital away from Jakarta, it will rebuild the coastal metropolis to defend from sea rise: “By 2050, about 95% of North Jakarta may be submerged,” according to Heri Andreas, Bandung Institute of Technology. Can innovations such as those proposed by Lempérière and Deroo to use canals, and rivers, to combat rising seas, help Jakarta and other port cities build a safer, better future? Will the Belt and Road Initiative build very different kinds of ports, using rivers, canals, and urban harbors to address sea rise?
BBC. “Indonesia’s planning minister announces capital city move,” 29 April 2019.
Lemer, Andrew C. “Foreseeing the Problems of Developing Nigeria’s New Federal Capital.” In Macro-engineering and the Future: A Management Perspective. edited by Frank P. Davidson and C. Lawrence Meador. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1982.
Toppa, Sabrina. “These cities have the worst traffic in the world, says a new index.” 4 February 2016. Jakarta, Istanbul, Mexico City, Surabaya, and St. Petersburg top the world’s cities among 78 surveyed. Time Magazine. http://time.com/3695068/worst-cities-traffic-jams/
Appreciation and recognition: David Edwards-May, Inland Waterways International, Andrew C. Lemer, Evan Litwin, and Cherie Potts for contributions to this post.
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Licen
Cities may rebuild the world. Image: “Cirrus sky panorama.” Image: Fir0002/Flagstaffotos.
“We started talking about all these things that we could do if someone would just give us a city and put us in charge,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Alphabet. Sidewalk Labs, subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, won a public competition to design a part of Toronto’s waterfront. Some of the proposed winning ideas:
tunnels for utilities, making grids easier to reach and repair.
Throughout history, cities have espoused new visions. Baghdad was drawn in three concentric circles during a vision. Singapore was the spontaneous agreement for an economic and cultural nexus, celebrating diversity. Brasilia was the first urban design built to be seen from the air. Will Toronto take the next step to realizing a new vision, if chosen as Amazon’s HQ2? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau termed the project an “innovation hub.” Some question sensors and data collection, also planned, challenging Sidewalk Labs’ claim: “privacy can be baked into the design.”
Which 20 cities made the short-list for Amazon’s HQ?. Image: München Tram 20. Wikimedia commons.
Toronto, along with Boston, made the short-list for Amazon’s second headquarters. Boston’s note: “We would like to move Boston forward in the process so we can continue to learn more about your community, your talent, and potential real estate options.” Holly Sullivan, Amazon. While 19 cities in the United States made the list, one Canadian city joined the elite twenty: Toronto. Toynbee, inCities of Destiny, explored cities that shaped history. What are your ideas for the future of the city?
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and Vice President Kamala D. Harris. inaugurated in Washington, D.C., on 20 January 2021. 
