https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com


EDITOR’S VIEWPOINT/The future of cities: Let’s talk about it now

EDITOR’S VIEWPOINT/The future of cities: Let’s talk about it now

By the end of the next decade, more than half the world's population will live in urban areas. That is good news for those of us who like company. It
  • Written by Janet Ward
  • 1st April 1997

By the end of the next decade, more than half the world’s population will live in urban areas. That is good news for those of us who like company. It is bad news for those who like to drink clean water.

Clean drinking water will be one of the first casualties of this great migration; indeed, in many cities it already is. Robert Geddes frets about this.

In fact, Geddes frets about most things involving cities. But unlike those of us who consider our part done if we write an occasional letter to the editor, Geddes, who has a bunch of titles behind his name and the fire of urbanism in his heart, takes the bull by the horns. An architect and urban designer, as well as Dean Emeritus of Architecture at Princeton and a Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU, Geddes was one of the driving forces behind a conference that was set up in anticipation of last year’s Habitat II conference.

Habitat II was the second United Nations conference on human settlements. The first, some 20 years ago, resulted in the release of Home of Man by Barbara Ward (no relation), a book that Geddes says “made a lot of people start thinking about urban growth and the future of our cities.”

Geddes’ conference involved academic types from Harvard, NYU, Columbia and Berkeley who were charged with looking at five metropolitan regions — New York, Toronto, Mexico City, Los Angeles and the Vancouver-Seattle-Portland area known as Cascadia. They studied the built environment of each of these areas to determine what was good and what was bad and how the former could be applied to metropolitan areas around the world and the latter addressed. The result of the conference was a book, Cities in our Future: Growth and Form, Environmental Health and Social Equity, edited by Geddes and available from Island Press (Box 7, Dept. 2PR, Covelo, CA 95428; (800) 828-1302.)

The built environment, Geddes believes, is the key to everything. He doesn’t talk about the sexy issues like crime and poverty for two reasons: Everyone else does, and he thinks if we address the problems of infrastructure, crime and poverty will become moot.

“The key,” he says, “is to create centers and create edges. You have to have some sense that the form of a city has limits. Portland (Ore.) does that best. You have to create places that people want to be together in. That involves natural systems, transportation systems, the whole thing.”

The time to talk about it is now, Geddes says. We can’t wait ’til our new neighbors get here.

Tags:

Most Recent


  • EDITOR’S VIEWPOINT/The future of cities: Let’s talk about it now
    Take American City & County's budgeting survey
    With the recently passed infrastructure-related legislation by the federal government, local administrators across the United States are poised to make historic investments into their communities.  Given the generational precedence of this action, we’re curious about the state of local budgets—what expense lines are increasing the fastest year-over-year? In what area has federal funding been the […]
  • Atlanta, Ga.
    Six cities and counties will take stock of underutilized assets in Rethinking Revenue incubator
    The Government Finance Officers Association in collaboration with various organizations including Urban3 and the Sorenson Impact Center has been spearheading a forward-looking approach to public financing, the Rethinking Revenue Project, an investigation of the foundational structure of government revenue and underutilized assets, for about a year now. A new initiative launched by the collaboration is […]
  • Seamless Cooperative Experience Saves Indiana City Exponentially in Time and Money
    Significant new responsibility in an unfamiliar spend category didn’t intimidate Jasper-Dubois County Public Library Director, Christine Golden. What could’ve been an overwhelming furniture project for a state-of-the-art, 67,000 square-foot new facility turned into a seamless, stress-free experience through a cooperative purchasing strategy. “Stress-free” may sound like an exaggeration, but it’s the result that cooperative purchasing […]
  • 10 best large cities for fishing
    Across the United States, Americans of all backgrounds—from both urban and rural settings alike—enjoy a mutual pastime: fishing. But while there are plenty of cities that feature lakes and rivers, some large metro areas are better fishing communities than others.  A list created by Apartment Guide considers all U.S. cities with a population of more […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Lessons from your friendly neighborhood public service employees
  • North Texas alliance partners with Marketplace.city on smart government solutions
  • Harris County deploys next-generation security in 150 public buildings
  • Public procurement can be transformative for stakeholders in a community

White papers


How to Assemble a Rockstar Website Redesign Steering Committee

7th June 2022

Hand Hygiene: Compliance Matters

23rd May 2022

What it Takes to Build a Winning Esports Program

23rd May 2022
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

Take American City & County’s budgeting survey dlvr.it/ST0qQP

28th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Six cities and counties will take stock of underutilized assets in Rethinking Revenue incubator dlvr.it/ST0ZVp

28th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Seamless Cooperative Experience Saves Indiana City Exponentially in Time and Money dlvr.it/SSxp95

27th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

10 best large cities for fishing dlvr.it/SSxbSZ

27th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Generational differences present an opportunity to reinvent public sector service delivery dlvr.it/SSxbN7

27th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Report: Local and state governments are facing a retention crisis; the worst could be yet to come dlvr.it/SSnmS7

24th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Amid an unprecedented increase in federal spending, cities and counties stand to benefit from partnerships dlvr.it/SSkGBn

23rd June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Governments using technology to harness data and improve decision-making dlvr.it/SSk3H0

23rd June 2022

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X