Surveillance cameras plastered all over neighbourhoods, complicated and burdensome traffic rules, heavy restrictions on the circulation of vehicles, "15 minute cities" come hell or high water. These are all watchwords of an emerging philosophy of city planning whose authors appear to view citizens as pawns in a master plan, or as children to be herded around until they "get with the programme." I am reminded of a comment by a town councillor in my neighbourhood in Spain to the effect that video surveillance cameras are not “the sort of thing” that ordinary citizens should be deciding on.
Great post! Loved the video too. The increasing amount of top-down control of our systems of human interaction is crushing them and us. And yet most people seem to believe that more regulation and control will always make everything better.
The best kind of order is Spontaneous-Order, from the bottom up. From the people not the rulers. But that idea seems to be vanishing from the public mind, over-ruled by the media and the government regulators.
Yeah, any of these changes that a city might wish to make, should be based on honest and clear simulations, and explaining costs and benefits (supposed). Alas, we know they don't work like that. They basically just make a few pretty pictures and then create an opt-in survey. A joke.
However, it's true that cars have awful externalities, imo. They kill the peace and create ambient tension, and this is why in New Zealand so many people flee to lifestyle sections, at huge personal costs. If we want to create new examples of 'good living' then we should allow innovators to create new-builds that might better meet real market ideals. Then, people could be more enthusiastic for any given level of [probably costly] retrofitting. But absolutely - it needs to be bottom up. Planners have no business doing it any other way. It's not their city - it's not their money.
Agenda 2030 is about corralling everyone into 15 surveillance cities, getting independent smaller farmers off too, to make way for big corporate agra to farm instead oh, and to remove cars out of private ownership. Should say 15 min. cities. Life was like this before cars, relatives lived in adjoining streets and employment was in the big mill or coalmine with workmates as neighbours. But times have changed, families split through job seeking, university, divorce, etc. We mainly live amongst strangers, and these new adoptions would only make it more difficult to visit family and friends, leaving us even more estranged than covid lockdowns. But maybe that is the real purpose?
Great post! Loved the video too. The increasing amount of top-down control of our systems of human interaction is crushing them and us. And yet most people seem to believe that more regulation and control will always make everything better.
The best kind of order is Spontaneous-Order, from the bottom up. From the people not the rulers. But that idea seems to be vanishing from the public mind, over-ruled by the media and the government regulators.
Yeah, any of these changes that a city might wish to make, should be based on honest and clear simulations, and explaining costs and benefits (supposed). Alas, we know they don't work like that. They basically just make a few pretty pictures and then create an opt-in survey. A joke.
However, it's true that cars have awful externalities, imo. They kill the peace and create ambient tension, and this is why in New Zealand so many people flee to lifestyle sections, at huge personal costs. If we want to create new examples of 'good living' then we should allow innovators to create new-builds that might better meet real market ideals. Then, people could be more enthusiastic for any given level of [probably costly] retrofitting. But absolutely - it needs to be bottom up. Planners have no business doing it any other way. It's not their city - it's not their money.
Agenda 2030 is about corralling everyone into 15 surveillance cities, getting independent smaller farmers off too, to make way for big corporate agra to farm instead oh, and to remove cars out of private ownership. Should say 15 min. cities. Life was like this before cars, relatives lived in adjoining streets and employment was in the big mill or coalmine with workmates as neighbours. But times have changed, families split through job seeking, university, divorce, etc. We mainly live amongst strangers, and these new adoptions would only make it more difficult to visit family and friends, leaving us even more estranged than covid lockdowns. But maybe that is the real purpose?