Our interest in the Ideal City starts with the study of the rational and moral objectives behind the planning concepts of the Renaissance, as well as the Garden City Movement and its environmental implications.
We feel the present day themepark is an Ideal City concept when the entertainment concepts promote education and enlightenment. The most recently built Ideal Cities could be described as public themeparks organized around inspirational lifestyle and workstyle themes. Masdar in Abu Dhabi is themed on energy and Iskandar in Malaysia is themed on ecology; it is no coincidence that both themes overlap in the areas of sustainability, which may represent the most highly valued moral civic planning objective of the 21st century.
We feel the present day themepark is an Ideal City concept when the entertainment concepts promote education and enlightenment. The most recently built Ideal Cities could be described as public themeparks organized around inspirational lifestyle and workstyle themes. Masdar in Abu Dhabi is themed on energy and Iskandar in Malaysia is themed on ecology; it is no coincidence that both themes overlap in the areas of sustainability, which may represent the most highly valued moral civic planning objective of the 21st century.
...From The Rise of the Creative Class : "Our cities are not just economic engines; they are the key to our health and well being. We need to invest in more green space, greater livability, energy efficiency, and sustainability. We need to expand transit, reduce the need to drive, and promote walking and biking, activities that not only save energy, but also improve our health.We need to better connect our cities and suburbs with transit, and connect our metro areas, especially those that are part of larger mega regions, to each other with high speed rail. Our older industrial-age cities are potentially cauldrons of creativity – filled with just the sorts of warehouses, factories and other buildings that can become the figurative garages where start-ups are incubated." (p 394)...
The most obvious challenge to the flat world hypothesis is the explosive growth of cities and urban areas worldwide. The share of the world’s population living in urban areas increased from just 3% in 1800 to 14% in 1900. By 1950 it had reached 30%. Today the number stands at more than 50%, and in the advanced countries, cities and metros account for some three fourths of the population. Cities are projected to grow at nearly double the rate of the rest of the world. More and more people are clustering in urban areas and there is no evidence to suggest that this trend will slow down anytime soon. (p187)...
But cities do more than just attract people and provide a broad environment or ecosystem for creativity: they stimulate it as well…When a solution is not forthcoming, a creative person will put it aside temporarily and resume he tasks of ordinary life. During this time, he or she is exposed to a host of stimuli that prime associations. Given sufficient time, Simonton writes, one of these stimulated pathways may lead to a solution to the problem – a Eureka moment. It goes without saying that an urban environment will afford a more diverse variety of potential priming stimuli than will a rural environment.(p201)
But cities do more than just attract people and provide a broad environment or ecosystem for creativity: they stimulate it as well…When a solution is not forthcoming, a creative person will put it aside temporarily and resume he tasks of ordinary life. During this time, he or she is exposed to a host of stimuli that prime associations. Given sufficient time, Simonton writes, one of these stimulated pathways may lead to a solution to the problem – a Eureka moment. It goes without saying that an urban environment will afford a more diverse variety of potential priming stimuli than will a rural environment.(p201)
Header Image
The Ideal City by Fra Carnevale
