Cities

Tales of Future Past
David Szondy's former website,

What will cities look like some 200 years in the future? In the past, visions of the future city have been full of magnificent skyscrapers, moving sidewalks and flying cars. The reality is that the future city will be built one structure at a time and many current buildings and neighborhoods will remain.

The image to the left shows a future city visualized early in the last century.

What city exists in your dreams? What changes should occur in the way we design and develop cities? What development approaches should we continue? Which should we dump? Most important, which approaches will support the existence of creative and thriving human societies.

Urban Theorist or Urbanist

Three professions have a significant role in the creation and evolution of cities; planners, engineers and architects. These are the people that politicians and developers consult when considering changes in a city. However, there is another profession which has an overarching and profound role; the urban theorist or urbanist.

A successful permanent outdoor market in Hong Kong, China
H Graem © 2007

The internet does not clearly differentiate between the two common terms for persons who research cities and urban life: urban theorists and urbanists. Urbanist seems to be more commonly applied to contemporary theorists. I lean toward "urbanist" as a shorter title for a person dedicated to studying and planning urban life.

At least as far back as Plato, thinkers regarding success and failure among existing cities have pondered what direction cities should take in the future.  Only a few have had a broad and lasting impact upon the urban fabric.

These effective urban theorists set in motion definite changes in the established way of viewing and developing cities. In the next posts two persons are discussed who have had a lasting impact on thinking about historic, current and future cities.

Prime Actors

Reality says that the actual decision-makers in the creation of the future city are not the architects or planners or urban theorists. In the real world, the politicians, developers and financiers determine what actually gets built.

Present and future shown in Shanghai Planning Museum
H Graem © 2007

The politicians approve expenditures for the infrastructure which enables a city to function: the schools, sewers, transit, highways, seaports, parks, garbage collection and airports. They approve the plans and/or zoning which determine where and what private individuals may build. Such approval may be based on objective criteria and professional advice or who contributed to their last political campaign. Whatever the basis for the decision, it determines the appearance and environment of the city of the future.

A city will not be built without developers. Development cannot occur without funding. Development capital may be provided by private or public sources, or both. The specifics of where and what development occurs depends on the applicable general plans and zoning, the state of the local economy, the cost of land in different locations and the availability of sufficient money to fund the development project.

Too often cheap land on the city outskirts becomes major development locations. This is not because city plans encourage it, but because there lies the greatest private profit. Too often, political influence trumps the plans. Future livability and long-term cost to the city and its residents is the loser. 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Image from 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'

This subheading is the title of one of my favorite western movies. Rather than the mythical American West, the discussion here is about urban communities  (1) to be emulated or (2) to be seen as experiments that went awry. The question is, what urban designs and approaches should be models for the future?

 

If we respect our history, culture and what works, the best of what exists will remain and be imitated elsewhere. New technology, building techniques and urban forms will be evaluated for their potential to make for success or failure in the long term.