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Basically, to build a city you have to be able to answer the question "why would anyone move there?", and the only correct answer is "because there are jobs peo
by saalweachter 8y ago
Basically, to build a city you have to be able to answer the question "why would anyone move there?", and the only correct answer is "because there are jobs people want there".
And since we're talking utopian cities, there's two follow up questions. "What will your revision process look like when you realize your initial design was fundamentally flawed and it's time to throw one away?" and "How will you maintain control when people are tired of you playing Sim City with their lives and there's more of them than you?"
- nojvek 8y agoI agree with utopian thinking really doesn’t work. For people to stay in a city, they need to have meaning in their life. That meaning is provided through multiple ways, a nice impactful job, good schools and universities, family housing, walkable/bikeable roads to shops and restaurants. In a way, you are 100% correct, most desirable cities will always be most human happiness/friendliness focused cities. Tech will merely be a means to that end. Tech is always a means to an end. People don’t want fancy self driving cars with a 100 sensors, they just want to get from point A to point B quickly and comfortably. A city with well networked subway system beats a city full of self driving cars stuck in a traffic jam. It’s so easy to fall in the trap of loving solution rather than the loving the problem.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago"most desirable cities will always be most human happiness/friendliness focused cities" No, they will be the richest with the coolest stuff to do. Paris is not a happy/friendly city. In fact, most places are happier than NY, Paris, London. Also, most people don't move so functional cities are not so much aspirational as the people that live there are lucky!