An Ideal City

Every city is unique with different resources, problems and opportunities. Every city has a unique set of people with their own fears, hopes and dreams. Every city has its own unique culture.“A great city is one where people want to go out of their homes. Public space is a magical good, and it never ceases to yield pleasure; we should give it a lot of attention. A great city is where we all feel not excluded. A prerequisite of a good city is mixed use neighborhoods, density and walkable streets. It should have mixed use neighborhoods where every 200 acres of development is self contained where all activities of residential, commercial, retail, hospitality and basic entertainment facilities are available. Diverse and mixed-use neighborhoods keep crime down, allowing for more “eyes on the street.” By celebrating its diversity, this city affords a multitude of cultural, educational, and entertainment opportunities. The city should also have an intensive bike and walking trail system, providing another legitimate mean of transportation, in addition to recreation. The most valuable asset in a city is its road space. The road space can be used as a society wishes. Sustain ability and efficiency is important for a good city. This means environmentally friendly buildings, urban design, and of course transportation. The ideal city has minimal sprawl and retains its historic urban form and density. Public transportation is an integral part of the city landscape, comprising of rail and bus modes.The majority of our society relies on municipal water sources to supply their household needs. Most city water sources contain highly contaminated forms of water that are then sanitized with potent chemical agents. Water filtration is especially important to make municipal water acceptable to drink.An ideal city should undertake the responsibility of adapting a policy to reduce, recycle, and re-use consumed goods.The simple answer to a good city is to return the focus to people, especially the poorer people. You create a vision based on the right values of a good city for the poorest people, providing equal access to essential services like walking, transit buses, libraries, sidewalks, and schools. This makes all people equally happy. With dignity and happiness all take pride in their city, in their public spaces. The streets come alive and people enjoy the outdoors together.An ideal city should be centered around a historic, yet vibrant, downtown that is built up densely with pleasing urban form. A smaller city with exceptional urban form and culture would be much better than a larger metro made up of only cheap sprawl.Cities are for all people. A city’s public space should make all the people that live in the city happy. Making people happy requires that they have dignity, are treated equally, and have hope.

Students' Oxygen movement view

10/06/2012