How would you design the city of the future?
I know virtually nothing about urban & regional planning, engineering or the like, but one thing is for certain – in my city of the future fossil-fuel driven vehicles would be greatly reduced in number. The terrible crowding, traffic jams and pollution in many present days cities (much like Phoenix, where I live) caused by cars and trucks is out of control! This would mean developing a very different mindset whereas the need to own a car and the social pressure related to this – along with the constant barrage of auto advertising to increase consumption would no longer figure prominently in our lives.
With this in mind, the typical city of the future would need to be more pedestrian friendly, with more paths for bicyclists and definitely be more walkable. Light rail, subways, and electric ⚡️ buses would be essential for this to be possible. This would certainly require that cities of the future have a healthy, desirable core where people actually want to live and that is easy to navigate (as much as possible). The denser, central city areas or downtowns could also be more eco-friendly with a focus on more trees and plants that absorb carbon dioxide. This can help reduce the build-up of greenhouse gases and assist with filtering air pollution (cities like Los Angeles & Phoenix have excessive issues of this type). I live with it on a daily basis!
More community roof top gardening would be helpful in this respect as well, along with another obvious benefit of providing fresh fruits and vegetables that would supply downtown area farmer’s markets. Another important reason why cities of the future need more trees is to provide badly needed shade and to possibly help with temperature reduction. This is exactly what desert 🏜️ region cities like Phoenix need more of – and the types of trees and shrubs that don’t require heavy water 💦 consumption! This is another aspect of sustainability that is vitally needed in urban areas. Having more trees,plants, and flowers are also aesthetically pleasing to counteract drab city streets and therefore good for our mental health.
Of course, any implementation of trees and plant life in future cities should only be those types suitable to the local climate and not create more allergy issues. While roads and highways 🛣️ still would obviously need to exist – cities of the future would need fewer of them if growth moved upward more where possible, instead of outward. This has created too much sprawl, with asphalt and concrete creating their own climate areas, storing excessive heat from the sun (once again an issue seriously affecting places like Phoenix). This seems to be a prime culprit of global warming. I also read an interesting article stating that buildings could generate their own energy and store this in batteries 🔋 and sell any surplus to the public grid.
Although the use of nuclear ☢️ power is so controversial, if it could be made safer; I think this could be used for individual buildings such as high-rise public structures to cut back on coal and oil fired power plants – which continue to contribute to global warming and spew out large amounts of unhealthy, unsightly pollution. These are a few of my thoughts of what would make life better in future cities.
