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 A magazine of forecasts, trends, and ideas about the future. January-February 2006, Vol. 40, No. 1 |
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Beyond Sprawl: New Visions for Human Habitats New technologies, demographic shifts, and growing awareness of the impacts of human activity on the environment are among the trends that must be considered in planning for future habitats—places that are designed to sustain and nurture us for many generations to come. THE FUTURIST invited several well-known thinkers to offer their insights and ideas on how we may best create communities that will meet our future needs—including those we cannot yet anticipate. "New Villages" developer Robert McIntyre shows how we could make better use of rural communities to accommodate people's desire for less-hectic lifestyles that are still connected, via communications technologies, with their jobs and communities ("New Villages for a New Era"). MIT architecture professor William J. Mitchell envisions how computer networking will connect more people in more ways and transform cities, both practically and conceptually ("A New Garden of Eden"). Media and cultural critic Douglas Rushkoff describes a new priority for many people to be more in tune with their physical and social environments. He suggests that we may see the end of "fortress" cities as we find ways to make our future towns more pleasant places in which to live ("Of Neighborhoods, Networks and Nodes"). Futurist and urban-planning journalist Mitchell Gordon proposes the creation of more public space dedicated to civic engagement—places where people can congregate freely to discuss and debate community issues ("Designing for Democracy"). Edge City author Joel Garreau notes the importance of facilitating face-to-face contact in the habitats we are building ("The Santa Fe-ing of Civilization"). And visionary developer L. Gene Zellmer offers an inspirational perspective that moves us away from "urban planning" and toward "utopia building" ("Rethinking Utopia: A Town Primarily for People").
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