Sunlight, kids, and future cities

[A.G.McDowell]

Lots of predictions are that near future humanity will be largely
city-dwellers (e.g. http://www.economist.com/node/21559585) - pretty
much whether we like it or not, but there are some benefits, such as
lower transport costs.

For a while I have been looking at possible causes of short-sightedness,
and seeing lack of exposure to sunlight in childhood being considered.
Last time I looked they had a possible biochemical mechanism and some
observational data. Now it looks like somebody has done a controlled
experiment -
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/05/03/outdoor-recess-may-help-protect-kids-from-nearsightedness.
My idea of a future city was previously a lot of time spent in
apartments, with recreation online mostly likely in virtual reality,
broken up by visits to gyms, cultural events, and so on. Anybody want to
guess how medical evidence favouring time spent outside would change this?

[James Nicoll]

In article <kmcl1l$j16$1...@dont-email.me>,

A.G.McDowell <andrew-...@o2.co.uk> wrote:
>Lots of predictions are that near future humanity will be largely
>city-dwellers (e.g. http://www.economist.com/node/21559585) - pretty
>much whether we like it or not, but there are some benefits, such as
>lower transport costs.

As I recall, we turned into a majority-urban species back in 2007.

Wait, it was 2008. Ancient history, anyway.

http://www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm
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