Very good as always, but as an urban planner I'm compelled to note more emphatically that while big ideas are nice, the organic change you describe happens incrementally. And there are plenty of incremental changes that would vastly improve the cities of today! Some of those are obvious and frequently discussed in spaces like this: zoning/housing policy reform; transportation infrastructure that doesn't automatically favor individual drivers; more streamlined land use review and approval processes. But, at least in the cities where I live and spend time, there are also pretty serious governance issues that make even small changes virtually impossible. So please, fellow urbanites, consider getting involved in local government, whether as an elected/appointed official or active citizen! That's how the small changes that evolve into big changes start.
Thank you for this comment. As a generalist, I always love to hear from people who specialize in these topics I touch, because the depth of knowledge you can bring is just so helpful.
I mentioned in another comment that I’m working on an eventual version of this that touches on more immediate issues, and a lot of them touch onthe issues you talked about. But you’re dead right about people getting involved. Back home, I used to do some municipal law and was involved with local politics. My experience as exactly the same as you describe. And not just in Philadelphia but even the smaller cities and towns I worked with. So much dysfunction but certainly much easier to accomplish change than at the state or federal level. I hope anyone reading this heeds your call and gets involved though, because people can make a difference at that level!
Another great debate Dan, I love the idea of what they did in Dubai, one thing in their favour is that as a very wealthy country they could afford to do it, certainly a concept that should be seriously considered in other countries though. I noted that someone made a comment about what they did for water, but it was said that they would be self sufficient in relation to water food and energy. I am sure within the design there would have been plans initiated to include the piping of desalinated water or some recycling efforts. There is a waterway referred to as ‘the creek’, well that water has had to come from somewhere.
Thanks as always for the kind comments Sally! You touched on one of the things that worries me which is that so many of these projects are being done in countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, or China, where they have money to burn. My hope is that if these work they don’t just end up as cities for the rich.
I'd vote for an underwater city for sure. The Little Mermaid had a profound effect on me! There's also some poetic justice in it, considering how so many of our cities will soon be underwater any way.
An earlier draft of this actually talked extensively about the Maldives floating city, with the idea being that since the Maldives are going to be submerged they may as well start doing this. So you’re actually pretty ahead of the curve on this one!
"In the Altogether" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the thirty-eighth episode of the series. It first aired on May 4, 2010 (UK). It includes an early scene where a futurist pictures a city of tomorrow based on Toronto where no one will ever have to go outside.
Hi Dan, both my husband and I are also concerned that we here in Australia are fast becoming a third world country. Ok we may have some new roads and train stations but hospitals and many medical services are lagging behind with Doctors leaving clinics in droves as are our teachers from all levels starting at Kindergartens. The Triple 000 (like 911) cannot cope, ambulances are ramping at hospital emergency and on it goes. Our new housing estates are not allowed to connect gas and our electricity supply previously mainly from coal run power stations is now supposed to be fully supplied by renewables, but guess what we don’t have the infrastructure to store this power. Many of the wind farms are not operating because of that. I don’t know whether you saw it or not, but recently we saw a video which showed a new concept of wind energy, I think it was somewhere in Scandinavia where they are producing far smaller tulip shaped wind “turbines”, not really a turbine as you can sit them on the roof of buildings rather than taking up the massive land space the current wind farms are doing.
Hope you don’t mind the vent, enjoy your day.. best wishes, Sally
This was fun and informative, although I note a conspicuous absence of discussion in the Sustainable City video of what they do for water. Seriously: What do they do for water?
Also, thanks for teaching me what EPCOT stands for!
Great catch, this is actually really interesting too. Allegedly, they have extensive water recycling, so it’s supposed to use very little water. But I was unable to find any good information on if this is actually happening or not. It was difficult to find quality reporting on this issue. This was actually a big issue with writing this article The level of media coverage I could find for most of these was rarely above “here’s a press release.” Honestly, that plagues a lot of what I try and write here. But I promise if I get a book deal I’ll fly to all these places and investigate!
Thanks! And that is a great question. I came across some of those ideas when I was researching this and am working them into a series I’m doing about improving modern life. I have no idea when that will be ready (these incubate for a while) but the idea I wanted to include in this one was billboards that convert smog into fresh air. These already exist, but I couldn’t figure out how to wedge them in. A lot of cool ideas are out there though and I can’t wait to write about them.
Very good as always, but as an urban planner I'm compelled to note more emphatically that while big ideas are nice, the organic change you describe happens incrementally. And there are plenty of incremental changes that would vastly improve the cities of today! Some of those are obvious and frequently discussed in spaces like this: zoning/housing policy reform; transportation infrastructure that doesn't automatically favor individual drivers; more streamlined land use review and approval processes. But, at least in the cities where I live and spend time, there are also pretty serious governance issues that make even small changes virtually impossible. So please, fellow urbanites, consider getting involved in local government, whether as an elected/appointed official or active citizen! That's how the small changes that evolve into big changes start.
Thank you for this comment. As a generalist, I always love to hear from people who specialize in these topics I touch, because the depth of knowledge you can bring is just so helpful.
I mentioned in another comment that I’m working on an eventual version of this that touches on more immediate issues, and a lot of them touch onthe issues you talked about. But you’re dead right about people getting involved. Back home, I used to do some municipal law and was involved with local politics. My experience as exactly the same as you describe. And not just in Philadelphia but even the smaller cities and towns I worked with. So much dysfunction but certainly much easier to accomplish change than at the state or federal level. I hope anyone reading this heeds your call and gets involved though, because people can make a difference at that level!
Another great debate Dan, I love the idea of what they did in Dubai, one thing in their favour is that as a very wealthy country they could afford to do it, certainly a concept that should be seriously considered in other countries though. I noted that someone made a comment about what they did for water, but it was said that they would be self sufficient in relation to water food and energy. I am sure within the design there would have been plans initiated to include the piping of desalinated water or some recycling efforts. There is a waterway referred to as ‘the creek’, well that water has had to come from somewhere.
Thanks as always for the kind comments Sally! You touched on one of the things that worries me which is that so many of these projects are being done in countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, or China, where they have money to burn. My hope is that if these work they don’t just end up as cities for the rich.
I'd vote for an underwater city for sure. The Little Mermaid had a profound effect on me! There's also some poetic justice in it, considering how so many of our cities will soon be underwater any way.
An earlier draft of this actually talked extensively about the Maldives floating city, with the idea being that since the Maldives are going to be submerged they may as well start doing this. So you’re actually pretty ahead of the curve on this one!
"In the Altogether" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the thirty-eighth episode of the series. It first aired on May 4, 2010 (UK). It includes an early scene where a futurist pictures a city of tomorrow based on Toronto where no one will ever have to go outside.
Hi Dan, both my husband and I are also concerned that we here in Australia are fast becoming a third world country. Ok we may have some new roads and train stations but hospitals and many medical services are lagging behind with Doctors leaving clinics in droves as are our teachers from all levels starting at Kindergartens. The Triple 000 (like 911) cannot cope, ambulances are ramping at hospital emergency and on it goes. Our new housing estates are not allowed to connect gas and our electricity supply previously mainly from coal run power stations is now supposed to be fully supplied by renewables, but guess what we don’t have the infrastructure to store this power. Many of the wind farms are not operating because of that. I don’t know whether you saw it or not, but recently we saw a video which showed a new concept of wind energy, I think it was somewhere in Scandinavia where they are producing far smaller tulip shaped wind “turbines”, not really a turbine as you can sit them on the roof of buildings rather than taking up the massive land space the current wind farms are doing.
Hope you don’t mind the vent, enjoy your day.. best wishes, Sally
I see shanty towns and favelas are not mentioned. That's as optimistic as I can be right now.
This was fun and informative, although I note a conspicuous absence of discussion in the Sustainable City video of what they do for water. Seriously: What do they do for water?
Also, thanks for teaching me what EPCOT stands for!
Great catch, this is actually really interesting too. Allegedly, they have extensive water recycling, so it’s supposed to use very little water. But I was unable to find any good information on if this is actually happening or not. It was difficult to find quality reporting on this issue. This was actually a big issue with writing this article The level of media coverage I could find for most of these was rarely above “here’s a press release.” Honestly, that plagues a lot of what I try and write here. But I promise if I get a book deal I’ll fly to all these places and investigate!
This was a great article until the needlessly inflammatory Little Mermaid reference.
It's inflammatory now but when people read this in two years they'll just be reminded of a hot crustacean band.
It's true that each little snail here knows how to wail here.
Thanks! And that is a great question. I came across some of those ideas when I was researching this and am working them into a series I’m doing about improving modern life. I have no idea when that will be ready (these incubate for a while) but the idea I wanted to include in this one was billboards that convert smog into fresh air. These already exist, but I couldn’t figure out how to wedge them in. A lot of cool ideas are out there though and I can’t wait to write about them.