If you’ve been keeping up with my blog, you know I oppose cities – the divide between the dense, artificial city and the sparsely popular, natural countryside have historically led to a system of conquest and exploitation of nature by humanity, and a system of conquest and exploitation of some parts of humanity by others. While a sustainable civilization (city-oriented system) is hypothetically possible, it would be very hard to achieve. Ultimately, it’s better to just ditch that whole form of social organization.
However, what should we do with the cities? They’re already there, obviously, and such a question may evoke to some forced migrations ala Pol Pot. However, this is far from my aspiration. The physical structures will remain, but the social structures will decentralize until every neighborhood is autonomous. Buildings will remain, but they will be repurposed into houses, assemblies, communal storehouses. Some ex-properties will become gardens.
The point isn’t to remove people from the city, it’s to remove the city itself.
Jolly good. Have you read Ecotopia? Some good thoughts along this line.
“While a sustainable civilization (city-oriented system) is hypothetically possible, it would be very hard to achieve.”
This is exactly wrong. Cities are the most sustainable model for social organization the world has. They are far more environmentally friendly than suburban and rural models. If the earth’s 9 billion people spread out to the countryside the world would quickly be overwhelmed with sprawl. Your dream of a rural utopia where everyone lives in harmony with nature is an absurd fantasy.
You didn’t even pay attention. I’m talking about repurposing cities into confederations of self-sustaining communes, with permaculture instead of monoculture. You think I’m talking about tearing down cities and littering the earth with monocultural farming villages.