If the World Lived Like New Yorkers, We’d All Fit Into Texas

[lockmat]

http://persquaremile.com/2011/01/18/if-the-worlds-population-lived-in-one-city/

[cactusneedle]

If the world lived like New Yorkers, we would be living in Hell.

[bachanon]

so......if necessary, even with wasted space, the entire world could fit in less than one quarter of one hemisphere.................and people are concerned about over-population why? interesting to see these examples.

[TheNiche]

so......if necessary, even with wasted space, the entire world could fit in less than one quarter of one hemisphere.................and people are concerned about over-population why? interesting to see these examples.

I'm fairly confident that they used city limits as their boundary for the density study.

The Parisian aire urbaine (defined by a 40% commuter threshold at the neighborhood level) is 5,238 square miles with 12 million people. That's 2,291 people per square mile. What throws off the stats is that Paris itself is only 41 square miles.

The Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land MSA (defined by a more vague commuter calculation at the county level, thus including huge land areas that are still mostly rural) is 10,062 square miles with 6 million people. That's 596 people per square mile, but again it is not as tight as the French model. The City of Houston by itself is at 3,491 people per square mile. The best comparison to Paris lies somewhere in the middle. ...and isn't as shocking as the map would lead one to believe.

Unfortunately, many people fail to understand (or do not want to understand) that the economic concept of a city functions organically, not merely as tourist-friendly neighborhoods in the central municipal jurisdiction.

[barracuda]

so......if necessary, even with wasted space, the entire world could fit in less than one quarter of one hemisphere.................and people are concerned about over-population why? interesting to see these examples.

The diagram is simplistically based on the population density of the city. Even though Houston's density would allow some pockets for growing food, resource extraction, etc., the actual resource requirements of 6.9 billion would extend far beyond the city limits, to other continents. I would question if the watershed alone could support 6.9 billion in that area, considering that aquifers are already very low in some parts of Texas.

[ricco67]

The diagram is simplistically based on the population density of the city. Even though Houston's density would allow some pockets for growing food, resource extraction, etc., the actual resource requirements of 6.9 billion would extend far beyond the city limits, to other continents. I would question if the watershed alone could support 6.9 billion in that area, considering that aquifers are already very low in some parts of Texas.

Something along those lines MIGHT be possible, but it would require such a huge rerouting of resources. Think the LA aqueduct for various area lakes.

[TheNiche]

Something along those lines MIGHT be possible, but it would require such a huge rerouting of resources. Think the LA aqueduct for various area lakes.

With desalinization, water would be more expensive but certainly available.

This is kind of an absurd thought experiment, however. Let's assume that the next generation of robotics allows for all agricultural and resource production to be handled remotely, and lets just assume that the entire world made a decision to build out one gigantic city for the entire population. Why would six billion people resettle on top of the highest-yield agricultural region in the world?

The required land area for such a concerted endeavor really wouldn't be very large. The southernmost portion of Africa would probably be a better fit. It rarely gets below freezing and the climate is very temperate, aside from a few desert regions.

[ricco67]

With desalinization, water would be more expensive but certainly available.

This is kind of an absurd thought experiment, however. Let's assume that the next generation of robotics allows for all agricultural and resource production to be handled remotely, and lets just assume that the entire world made a decision to build out one gigantic city for the entire population. Why would six billion people resettle on top of the highest-yield agricultural region in the world?

The required land area for such a concerted endeavor really wouldn't be very large. The southernmost portion of Africa would probably be a better fit. It rarely gets below freezing and the climate is very temperate, aside from a few desert regions.

If we're just talking theoretical, I might agree with you.

However, land is need somewhere in a subtropical area, or fairly close to it. Desalination plants is all well and good, but reliable water sources would be needed (i.e. Rain). If South Africa would be picked, it might do for awhile, but with few water resources the costs of the water would almost be unsustainable.

[TheNiche]

If we're just talking theoretical, I might agree with you.

However, land is need somewhere in a subtropical area, or fairly close to it. Desalination plants is all well and good, but reliable water sources would be needed (i.e. Rain). If South Africa would be picked, it might do for awhile, but with few water resources the costs of the water would almost be unsustainable.

Isreal desalinates their water at a cost of $0.002 per gallon. The most expensive part about it seems to be moving the water around.

[ricco67]

Isreal desalinates their water at a cost of $0.002 per gallon. The most expensive part about it seems to be moving the water around.

Which makes me wonder why we don't do it here, but that's for another argument for another time.

Do you suppose capturing (and filtering) rain would make a difference? My mind is reeling on what the sewage, rain, utilities, and transportation tunnels would be like.

[TheNiche]

Which makes me wonder why we don't do it here, but that's for another argument for another time.

Do you suppose capturing (and filtering) rain would make a difference? My mind is reeling on what the sewage, rain, utilities, and transportation tunnels would be like.

El Paso gets a quarter of its water from desalination. Brownsville has (or had) a plant under construction; not sure if it has been completed. But the technology seems to be catching on.

We already do the rain capturing thing, hence our rivers and lakes being the primary source of drinking water. IIRC, a portion of Australia had tried rainfall capture in an urban environment and used it for non-potable uses, but concluded that the infrastructure was far more expensive than desalination.

[ricco67]

El Paso gets a quarter of its water from desalination. Brownsville has (or had) a plant under construction; not sure if it has been completed. But the technology seems to be catching on.

We already do the rain capturing thing, hence our rivers and lakes being the primary source of drinking water. IIRC, a portion of Australia had tried rainfall capture in an urban environment and used it for non-potable uses, but concluded that the infrastructure was far more expensive than desalination.

Interesting facts you gave there. You're always full of surprises when it comes to facts. The Australian example was a complete surprise, but I'd imagine that if a city grew above a certain size, any water capture would be looked upon with gratitude. LA is a good example on a city that literally imports the water that it needs.

[samagon]

Which makes me wonder why we don't do it here, but that's for another argument for another time.

Do you suppose capturing (and filtering) rain would make a difference? My mind is reeling on what the sewage, rain, utilities, and transportation tunnels would be like.

screw that, imagine if everyone collected the drip from their AC system.

you can get upwards of 10 gallons/day, easily, from a moderate sized AC unit. I specifically get about 10 gallons and some change daily. I use mine to help keep the soil around my foundation stable, and the rest for watering the trees in this extreme drought. I have a 55 gallon drum, so if we had a hurricane bearing down on us, I'd just let it fill, rather than watering. plenty of water for flushing toilets/cooking and drinking (provided I boil it first).

based on this website: http://www.fizber.com/sale-by-owner-home-services/texas-city-houston-neighborhood.html

there are over 770,000 houses in Houston, 10% unoccupied, so, even with only 700,000 houses, that's 7.7 million gallons of water generated per day, not to mention the amount of water from office buildings AC... lots of water being left on the table which would be relatively cheap to collect and distribute (since it would be at your house already).

[Pleak]

screw that, imagine if everyone collected the drip from their AC system.

you can get upwards of 10 gallons/day, easily, from a moderate sized AC unit. I specifically get about 10 gallons and some change daily. I use mine to help keep the soil around my foundation stable, and the rest for watering the trees in this extreme drought. I have a 55 gallon drum, so if we had a hurricane bearing down on us, I'd just let it fill, rather than watering. plenty of water for flushing toilets/cooking and drinking (provided I boil it first).

based on this website: http://www.fizber.com/sale-by-owner-home-services/texas-city-houston-neighborhood.html

there are over 770,000 houses in Houston, 10% unoccupied, so, even with only 700,000 houses, that's 7.7 million gallons of water generated per day, not to mention the amount of water from office buildings AC... lots of water being left on the table which would be relatively cheap to collect and distribute (since it would be at your house already).

You mean like what Rice University is doing...

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2011/09/01/rice-recapturing-millions-of-gallons.html

[samagon]

You mean like what Rice University is doing...

http://www.bizjourna...of-gallons.html

yes, wow, that is a lot of water!

I hope more people (and businesses) pick up on this idea, the price of entry is fairly low (less than $20), if you buy a plastic bbl, spigot and other hardware separately, and make something, otherwise, I think you can get complete units at home depot, or other places for around $100, either way, it pays off in lower water bills.

[RedScare]

Not to discourage water conservation, but your plan...if it saved an equal amount of City water...would only save 1% of Houston daily water usage. Houston goes through 600 million gallons daily in the summer, or 275 gallons per person. 10 gallons is literally a drop in the bucket. One third of the water is wasted on water glutton St. Augustine lawns. If Houstonians would switch to Bermuda, and simultaneously outlaw HOA rules that require homeowners to water brown lawns, we'd see some real water savings.

As for the small investment in AC drain water, those of us who have installed our AC drains according to city codes will have a pretty tough time getting to the water, since it is hooked into our sewer lines.

[barracuda]

I've been collecting the AC drip in a bucket and using it to water plants, but it fills up in just an hour or two. I'd like to make a rain/drip barrel and have enough to water all the plant beds without drawing from the tap. I never would have bothered with this if rain was in the long-term forecast. But I suspect water restrictions may get even tighter if we continue averaging just over an inch of rain per month for 2011, most of which fell back in January.

[samagon]

Not to discourage water conservation, but your plan...if it saved an equal amount of City water...would only save 1% of Houston daily water usage. Houston goes through 600 million gallons daily in the summer, or 275 gallons per person. 10 gallons is literally a drop in the bucket. One third of the water is wasted on water glutton St. Augustine lawns. If Houstonians would switch to Bermuda, and simultaneously outlaw HOA rules that require homeowners to water brown lawns, we'd see some real water savings.

As for the small investment in AC drain water, those of us who have installed our AC drains according to city codes will have a pretty tough time getting to the water, since it is hooked into our sewer lines.

I don't get that St Augustine uses that much water, I've been able to keep mine green through the summer watering once every 2 to 3 weeks, for 30 min. A lot of people don't understand roots, they cut the grass so short the result is that the roots are exceedingly shallow. Then they water it for short periods of time daily. Both of these factors make the grass horribly drought intolerant. Taller grass, plus watering deeper = deep roots and drought tolerance.

I didn't know about drip lines needing to be routed into the sewer system, what a horrible plan. I guess my house is not and will not be to code.

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

[wxman]

My geography professor at Texas A&M University said that if each person were stacked front to back, shoulder to shoulder, the entire worlds' population could fit in an average sized COUNTY. The example he used is that the world's population could fit inside Brazos County---again, if were standing shoulder to shoulder front to back.

There are 43,560 sq. ft in an acre and 640 acres in a sq. mile...so there would be 27,878,400 sq. ft. in one sq. mile. So let's assume that each person takes up 2 sq. ft. That means that 13,939,200 people could fit in one sq. mile. The example my professor used was Brazos County. Brazos County is 590 sq. miles. So 13,939,200 x 590 = 8,224,128,000!!!! So at this point in the game, you could fit the entire world's population into a single county and STILL have room to spare.

Now if you were to put everybody inside Harris County, you might even have enough room to raise your arm and pick your nose!