The To-Do List for Cities 20 Years From Now
As Meeting of the Minds well knows, the integration of technology in all aspects of city life will manifest in many ways over the next two decades. Artificial intelligence, crowdsourcing, and data collection and analysis have gotten the most attention, but many of the most striking changes are set to occur in the physical realm – the layout of streets and sidewalks. Planners are hard at work right now trying to anticipate what’s going to be needed to accommodate delivery drones, trackless trams, and of course driverless cars and trucks, which will present their own congestion problems potentially, but also will free up all kinds of urban land no longer needed for traffic flow or parking. The transformation of the urban landscape will be more complicated than the transition from horses to cars, but no less doable.
Change the Rules of Housing and Let Tiny Houses & ADUs Flourish
Right-sized living is far from a new idea. The architect Le Corbusier was a pioneer, from his cabanon at the Cote d’Azur to the super-efficient and well-designed density of Unite d’Habitation. This was a good idea then, as it is now. This is a classic case of the importance of the underlying rules of the game – the land use regulations, zoning, and building codes that guide our built environment. These more technical matters aren’t nearly as sexy as the shelter porn in Dwell magazine. But you can’t have one without the other.
Spotlight on Legacy Cities, Large and Small
From Gary, Indiana, to Lowell, Massachusetts, smaller post-industrial cities are taking strategic steps to regenerate. They have a chance to follow their larger rebounding counterparts like Pittsburgh and Cleveland, by building on downtowns, capitalizing on a unique sense of place, and focusing on workforce development.
Driverless car revolution is coming
This is the second in a series entitled The Future of Mobility, a joint project of CommonWealth and Meeting of the Minds. Transition will be tricky, so planning needs to start now The connection between land use and transportation has been well-established, but it’s...
To the People of Boston of 2015:
This blog post is a response to the Dear 2015 group blogging event prompt: The year is 2050. Write a letter to the people of 2015 describing what your city is like, and give them advice on the next 35 years. For more responses, see the Dear 2015 Event Page. October 6,...
In the Wake of Ferguson, Regeneration in St. Louis
St. Louis was ranked 8 of 18 post-industrial cities studied in our Policy Focus Report Regenerating America’s Legacy Cities, and the metropolitan area continued to make progress in planning and economic development. The revitalization along Washington Avenue,...