Six Strategies for the Good City to Come
Abstract:
To bring a fairer, more livable world into existence, I will propose six strategies for the good city to come. (1) Learn to live with the reality of a finite material world, a world of limits. (2) Work towards an ecologically sustainable, resilient city. (3) Work towards a local economy that, as a matter of priority, is oriented to the satisfaction of basic human needs. (4) Devise systems of accounting in which the production of both use value and market-valued goods and services are acknowledged as being equally important, and where the direct production of use values is promoted to create more livable cities. (5) Work towards a convivial city that nourishes the spirit, cherishes the diversity of its citizens, engages in fashioning a mosaic of distinctive neighborhoods, and harbors inclusive
democratic institutions. (6) Restore a sense of civic virtues as a mark of local citizenship, a commitment to and pride in creating convivial, livable urban places through deliberative practices.