About 60% of the world’s population is considered to live in urban areas. This puts immense pressure on governments and organisations to provide appropriate amenities and services to support all of their urban citizens. The age we are in leaves us at a crossroads: many climate change targets are coming to fruition in the next decade or two, AI is becoming increasingly powerful, and social cohesion is declining across many communities. It is exceedingly crucial, now more than ever, that we think about how our cities are built and how to unlock their potential. To push our limits and explore new ideas, what does it take to create an ideal city?
This series of articles works in two modes: to synthesise what I’ve learnt over the past few years of my degree and to clearly articulate defining pillars of what a city can and should be. Having lived in Sydney for the past couple years and studying urban geography, I have had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of issues and conflicts that compose life and see it up close. For example, the “latte line” or “Red Rooster line”– a phenomenon of regional inequities in food chain distribution and socioeconomic class across Sydney, originally characterised by the price of a latte or presence of a – was first observed and discussed here in this city and I’ve experienced it first-hand as I’ve travelled around town. Despite all of this learning and experience, I acknowledge that I am young and probably naive concerning the feasibility of any of these ideas, and yet I believe that this perspective can be sometimes be the best for forward thinking, without the jaded apathy of experience. I know that I will get some things wrong and miss concepts that others might think are obvious, but this is inevitable and I plan to continue to update these essays over time.
The idea for the project stems less from the numerous conceptions of constructing a perfect utopia and more about shaping the future in a way that is contextual to the 21st century’s issues and is practical while retaining some idealism. For example, the point is not necessarily to completely overhaul our food systems, but rather to ask how can we best optimise our current food networks for equitable and sustainable outcomes? How do we eliminate food desserts and prevent the death of our soils and local ecologies? Does that mean more local production, relying on new agricultural technologies, or something entirely different? Every ideal system is inherently flawed, bent under the weight of reality, but I hope that this series can do its small part in pushing the needle in a better direction for our cities.
Over the next couple months, I plan to write about a handful of topics that I believe are most important or pressing that comprise an ideal city and its functions. You can read them in order or dive right into what looks most interesting below (once they’re published soon!):
Rights to the city
Sustainability: How do we use energy?
Climate change in the city
Future transport: The flying car was never the goal
Developing place and community
Housing: Density, heritage, and amenities
Food and drink
The digital city
City models: Past and future