Tag Archives: TED talks Cities 2.0

TED talks is awarding their annual prize, the TED Oscarso to speak, not to an individual but to an idea.Of course, that could be seen as a bit of a cop out, like Time Magazine announcing “You” as man of the year, but TED talks is several levels of intellect better than Time Magazine,

Yeah, something like this. That's the ticket.

and the idea strikes me as a worthy one.

Cities 2.0 they call it, the idea that cities of the future can be better designed than cities of today.  That, instead of being sinkholes of poverty, they can become focal points of opportunity.  They can be the vibrant, shining centers of culture, social life and empowerment that we (or at least most of us) would like them to be.

Here is my take:  The cities of the future should be planned so that everybody has a clean, secure and adequately spacious place to live, within easy walking or public transport distance of businesses and entertainment venues. Public transportation should reach into every neighborhood and spread out to the suburbs and exurbs. It should be swift, silent, dependable, comfortable and efficient.  Free would be nice.  There should be plenty of regularly spaced parks, both for the greenery which freshens and cools the air and for the recreational possibilities. There should be urban gardens providing fresh vegetables. There should be rooftop gardens and balcony gardens. There should be a good infrastructure providing clean water and reliable power. There should be fountains and swimming pools. There should be public places for festivals and exhibitions. There should be schools, lots of schools, so that the teacher to student ratio drops to a level where the teacher can actually know the students individually, help them deal with their problems, and mold them into productive members of the community, there should be day care centers and pre-schools, there should be universities, accessible and affordable for all the cities residents.  There should be great restaurants and music everywhere you go.

The cities of the future should be sparkling clean, completely safe, reasonably affordable, and fun.
That’s my wish list. How we get from where we are today to that bright, utopian future is the question.   TED talks has at least raised the question and begun the discussion.  That is a very good first step.