The City of the Future

Rural Slum Area-- Image @ alexisokeowo@wordpress.com

In the year 2014, this is the best we can do?

So, the topic around my house yesterday was about the characteristics of the "city of the future". It all began when my husband asked me what I would do with an almost "unlimited" amount of resources and could do anything I wanted with them. It made me think about what I would "change" and/or re-do if I had a complete do-over. What kind of world would I live in? Maybe watching a Doctor Who marathon is what inspired me to think bigger in regards to his question than I might have otherwise, because before I was even sure about my answer, I blurted out, "I'd buy a big chunk of land and build a city of the future!"

"That's not what I thought you'd say," he said to me, smiling (it's not easy to catch someone off guard who's known you nearly thirty years). "It's not what I thought I'd say, either, but there it is and it's true. Remember when we took the girls to Disney and went through Tomorrow Land? Why doesn't our world look like that? We certainly have the technology to go even further than what was imagined by ol' Walt years ago, but look at the mess our world is in! How much of our planet's population live in conditions that barely reflect us crawling out of caves? Why is there such a disparity of resources when we have the knowledge to end that a hundred, hell, a thousand times over? We're just screwed out of certain privileges and opportunities because of where we were or weren't born? All you have to do is spend fifteen minutes in a classroom full of children to KNOW that we can, we should be doing so much better! Why aren't we? And what would a 'practically perfect world' look like, anyway? I'd start with a city (although if we're dreaming REALLY big, a colony on another planet...I once gave that very assignment to a group of my students, i.e. Plan the Perfect Colony). I'd create that city with clean energy, where all basic needs are met and opportunities for growth are TRULY equal."

That conversation lasted throughout most of the day and ran the gamut of how schools would be set up to the inner workings of the "downtown" area or business district. Imagining a Utopian society is not new and has been kicked around, hashed out by philosophers, scholars, writers, poets, dreamers, and ordinary folk for thousands of years. Ideas about what it might look like are vast and diverse. The blog articles this week will be exploring a more detailed plan for a city of the future! Feel free to chime in with reckless abandon and share your own thoughts, comments and suggestions!

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Child Poverty Image @ infowars.com