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"Ask whether it's time to re-think Britain's green belts, as we often do in these parts, and you're likely to get a mixed response. Part of your audience – the younger, more urban, more-likely-to-be-private-tenants part – will cheer you on. But a significant minority will call you all sorts of names, accuse you of being in the pocket of the construction industry, and probably at some point blame immigration.
"Such is life. But since this debate isn't going to go away any time soon, we thought it might be worth injecting some figures into it. Let’s consider the Metropolitan Green Belt which has restricted London’s growth since 1938.
"There are 33 boroughs in London, of which no fewer than 19 have at least some protected Green Belt land within them. This chart shows the size of those 19 by area (total bar length), and the proportion of each which is designated as Green Belt (the bit that's, well, green). We’ve taken our data from government figures, hosted here."
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"A study of 274 cities has helped shed light on energy consumption in urban areas and what can be done to make future urbanisation more efficient.
"Globally, cities are best placed to mitigate emissions as urban areas are much more energy intensive than rural areas, say researchers.
"Most people now live in urban areas, a trend that is accelerating as the global population continues to grow.
"The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
