Thanks to electric cars, cities are getting quieter

Shenzhen, a megacity just north of Hong Kong, is home to the highest concentration of tech entrepreneurs, hackers and makers in the world. Due to its status as a 'special economic zone', it was also home to 'cars, highways, delivery trucks, sirens, buses, factories, power plants, shipping facilities, trains, and innumerable motorbikes', creating a 24/7 cacophony. But the future has always arrived a little earlier in Shenzhen, and the future is electric vehicles. And electric vehicles are quiet.

There is a strange sort of positivity in knowing that things cannot keep going as they are. They may get a lot worse. But if they don't – if governments take the regulatory actions needed to save the planet – then we are going to have quieter cities, greater gender equality, cleaner air, cheaper electricity, better public transport systems and maybe even rental properties with decent insulation.

–– Kate Goodwin