Comments on: Downsizing the city http://futurismic.com/2009/06/22/downsizing-the-city/ Presenting the fact and fiction of tomorrow since 2001 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:03:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: gmoke http://futurismic.com/2009/06/22/downsizing-the-city/comment-page-1/#comment-34521 gmoke Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:24:28 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=7911#comment-34521 Went to a session on Monday, November 10, 2008, on "Sustainable Design and (un) Development in Cities" by Justin Hollander of Tufts at Harvard. As a student of the Professors Popper at Rutgers who first proposed the Buffalo Commons, Hollander has been examining the cities that have lost population in the last 50 years or so, asking how people are planning for decline rather than growth. He is part of a small movement called "smart decline." It was a rudimentary presentation mostly dealing with Hollander's studies of the Rust Belt and Flint, MI. It seems that some of the loss in housing has been replaced by urban agriculture but Hollander didn't really get that agriculture can be both economically transformative and necessary for survival in a sustainable future. Hollander spoke with favor about the transition now happening in Youngstown, OH and their mayor, Jay Willliams, and the work of the Shrinking Cities Institute at UC Berkeley. Planning for decline as well as growth is a wise move but politically difficult. Nobody talked about the present housing and mortgage crisis and how it might relate to these issues which I thought was interesting. I brought up resource issues and Peak Oil, especially as one cause mentioned for population decline was the transition away from rail transport and we may soon be transitioning back from trucks. Lots of blinders here, smart people with extremely narrow vision. 370 cities lost population from 1950-2000 worldwide 122 metropolitan areas in the US lost population from 2000-2004 http://www.shrinkingcities.com - German Federal Cultural Council European countries are confronting population loss (and aging) Smart decline toolkit to be released soon by Kent State Univ http://www.tufts.edu/~jholla03 Went to a session on Monday, November 10, 2008, on “Sustainable Design and (un) Development in Cities” by Justin Hollander of Tufts at Harvard. As a student of the Professors Popper at Rutgers who first proposed the Buffalo Commons, Hollander has been examining the cities that have lost population in the last 50 years or so, asking how people are planning for decline rather than growth. He is part of a small movement called “smart decline.”

It was a rudimentary presentation mostly dealing with Hollander’s studies of the Rust Belt and Flint, MI. It seems that some of the loss in housing has been replaced by urban agriculture but Hollander didn’t really get that agriculture can be both economically transformative and necessary for survival in a sustainable future. Hollander spoke with favor about the transition now happening in Youngstown, OH and their mayor, Jay Willliams, and the work of the Shrinking Cities Institute at UC Berkeley.

Planning for decline as well as growth is a wise move but politically difficult. Nobody talked about the present housing and mortgage crisis and how it might relate to these issues which I thought was interesting. I brought up resource issues and Peak Oil, especially as one cause mentioned for population decline was the transition away from rail transport and we may soon be transitioning back from trucks. Lots of blinders here, smart people with extremely narrow vision.

370 cities lost population from 1950-2000 worldwide
122 metropolitan areas in the US lost population from 2000-2004

http://www.shrinkingcities.com – German Federal Cultural Council
European countries are confronting population loss (and aging)

Smart decline toolkit to be released soon by Kent State Univ
http://www.tufts.edu/~jholla03

]]> By: Apesofmath http://futurismic.com/2009/06/22/downsizing-the-city/comment-page-1/#comment-34497 Apesofmath Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:49:25 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=7911#comment-34497 "perhaps we’re living in the last days of suburbia." hopefully “perhaps we’re living in the last days of suburbia.”

hopefully

]]> By: Darren T http://futurismic.com/2009/06/22/downsizing-the-city/comment-page-1/#comment-34444 Darren T Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:17:30 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=7911#comment-34444 Interesting. In the back-story to 2000AD's Judge Dredd it took a global nuclear war to result in rise of the three maga-cities (East Coast, West Coast, and Texas) with the rest of North America reduced to a radioactive wasteland populated by mutants, crazies and gangs of outcast criminals. Is the current economic melt-down going to eventually result in a similar scenario? Interesting. In the back-story to 2000AD’s Judge Dredd it took a global nuclear war to result in rise of the three maga-cities (East Coast, West Coast, and Texas) with the rest of North America reduced to a radioactive wasteland populated by mutants, crazies and gangs of outcast criminals. Is the current economic melt-down going to eventually result in a similar scenario?

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