If we go back in history, many cities were made of wood rather than brick. Now, of course, most modern cities are concrete jungles. But construction technology is constantly evolving. This is evident in a move back to wood for building modern offices and homes.

The futuristic Toronto neighborhood Quayside is being built of wood instead of concrete and steel. This has become possible because of new technologies that can make wood stronger than concrete, despite being much lighter. In a book co-authored with Liangbing Hu, University of Maryland mechanical engineer Teng Li claims to have created wood that is "strong as steel, but six times lighter." According to the authors, the material can be used in buildings as well as in cars and airplanes.

With such developments, future cities would be more wooden than concrete or steel. The idea has been around for some time. In 2014, Boston Globe queried, "Will cities of the future be built of wood?" That idea is now gaining popularity. With a growing city-centric global population and the challenge of climate change, our cities must be sustainable with minimum carbon footprint. The natural choice is to move from concrete and steel to wood.