The Unsustainable City

"Make cities more sustainable" is an omnipresent slogan in architecture and urban planning. This article is a discussion on theoretical and practical boundaries of using the expression "sustainability" with respect to the scientific community, therefore avoiding sustainability becoming a euphemism for "doing good". By definition, it can be concluded, cities developed as counterparts to the hinterland and, therefore, they axiomatically should be and are as a matter of fact unsustainable. Furthermore, sustainability is a binary, not a gradual concept. Something is either sustainable or not. Aiming to increase the sustainability is consequently a sham battle. It would be necessary to change our perception to acknowledge that cities should be unsustainable in order to become efficient, seen from a global perspective including the hinterland.