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    GenerationExile: The Living City: Organizing the Organism

    Cities must be transformed and planned to act as a living organism.

    Started by: knOWLonix Raves:9

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    The traditional concepts of city planning must be adapted to suit the changes in styles of living. Let's compare the cities of today as living cells. A cell is able to survive because it takes in nutrients and puts these nutrients to use inside the cell. the items brought into the cell are organized and put to good use. In the same way. cities can also be adapted to use the flow of nomads and refugees to their advantage. The problem we face is that cities are unable to support the refugees. The city planning isolates refugees and keeps them separate from the functions of the city. If we can adapt the structure of the city in such a way that refugees can be integrated with the community, we can having living, breathing cities and communities. Refugees will no longer be just another problem to deal with.

    I think there are real opportunities here for radical new ways of designing our living-spaces - cells is an excellent analogy, knOWLonix. Perhaps the bombing campaigns and floods which have destroyed so many of our cities will have a positive outcome, as they allow us to rebuild on a totally new socio-architectural foundation...

    Cities already do act as living organisms, in many ways. They take in raw materials, have outputs in many forms, waste products, etc. I think the real issue is using the organism metaphor to think about solving the new problems of urban living - food supplies, epidemics, power generation.

    With many more people from different backgrounds entering cities with ReDS and other diseases creates the need to develop a system that monitors status of people in the city. It would have to be capable of monitoring health, power-usage, and other changes that can occur due to the entrance of refugees and nomads. However, like I mentioned earlier, our final goal is to be able to create a city design that allows these individuals to join in the functions of the city and benefit the community that they are staying in. The city environment, layout, and social structure needs to undergo a shift that allows adaptation to the new conditions present in the world of 2019.

    Cities will need infrastructure to deal with migrants--ideally not infrastructures of control (camps, ghettos), but of welcome. How can people be housed with their safety, productivity, & dignity in mind, while still managing the collision of migratory populations with locals? What\\\'s the infrastructure of welcome look like? It would seem likely to work best if it\\\'s scattered, distributed, rather than concentrated. Tiny clusters in neighborhoods, with services also distributed virally--perhaps administered by networks of quasi-professional volunteers.

    Cities will need infrastructure to deal with migrants--ideally not infrastructures of control (camps, ghettos), but of welcome. How can people be housed with their safety, productivity, & dignity in mind, while still managing the collision of migratory populations with locals? What\\\'s the infrastructure of welcome look like? It would seem likely to work best if it\\\'s scattered, distributed, rather than concentrated. Tiny clusters in neighborhoods, with services also distributed virally--perhaps administered by networks of quasi-professional volunteers.

    The Besom superstructure (http://www.superstructgame.org/SuperstructView/204) offers a grass-roots solution to the physical needs of incoming refugees. By connecting those who have resources and skills to share/donate with those who have need, we can encourage greater community cohesion (building bridges between otherwise disconnected social groups) and provide refugees with the kind of welcome they deserve.

    One of the problems that emerged from later 20th-century urban planning in North America was the specialization of space. Zoning regulations ended up separating residential districts from commercial districts or business districts. This led to incredible waste of energy and overuse of transportation infrastructure. If we could get back to meeting our daily needs (for employment, food, basics) within a walking-distance radius of where we live, that would be a huge improvement. How can we distribute resources closer to where they are needed? Should we help new arrivals in our communities become hawkers of essential goods? How about couriers or delivery workers? Can we expand our categories for what we can get delivered to our front doors?

    in our micro-city we use the metaphor of the nucleus and the cell to protect our most vulnerable members from new influences. We have a total of three layers of access, four if you include the off-site quarantine and health repair station. ancient cities have some strategies to offer also.

    A living and breathing, adaptive city would also need an ideological adaptation structure. You cannot expect refugees to arrive at your city and have NO unrest from the locals or complete absortion and acceptance of your city's culture by the immigrant. If this system is to truly work it needs and evolving ideological system were some values are zealously kept and others are up for adaptation and absorption by the values of the incoming masses of immigrants. Even so, the human factor is not being considered here. You will always have some state of unhappiness and unrest from people with different points of view whose only thing in common is essentially their convergence on a geopolitical location that offers a decent way of living (or rather, better than what they had before in any case)

    the creation of bioregional dividers can go a long way to restoring an interest in the diversity around you. Just look at how the depaving and restoration of the river in los Angeles (by fellow Fool Melanie W) has led to greenbelts that act as wildlife corridors and recreation spaces. As you move across these natural boundaries you have a very visceral experience of going into another space. Like crossing the creek into Thai town.

    Any fundamental change in the way we live has to come locally from the populace itself, if we presume to know best and lay down a grand unified theory, we simply repeat the zoning mistakes of the latter half of the 20th century. Therefore enclaves and cells should be a natural extension of local communities first and foremost. Dividing up the cities, establishing greenbelts and the like requires space, a commodity which is already at a premium here in the more liveable parts of the globe. The mass immigration and new requirements for agricultural land increase the density of cities to a point where we have to give up the basic luxury of personal space. Furthermore, the tight packing of cities will enevitably lead to more conflict than cooperation. I do believe that we need to sub-organize the urban way of living as suggested, it's just going to be a hard road.

    Ocyris, I agree that "regulations ended up separating residential districts from commercial districts or business districts. This led to incredible waste of energy and overuse of transportation infrastructure." But remember, one of the reasons for this was to improve human health by removing industrial processes from people's dwellings. If the city is reconfigured to put everything within walking distance, we must have protections in place to prevent the spread of disease, or the greater population density will promote pandemic disease.

    doing this is also causing more problems, what if - the city is starved, will it die, will it lose a few pounds?, if it is living it will have needs almost all the time, does it have emotions? does it need to be happy, if it is sad what would it resort in? unlike most cities (Stone and Metals) it will not work in my eyes PF




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