Cities of the Future

Hey Mariana : Today, the global cities –New York, London, Tokyo – are being challenged not only by their own ever-expanding suburbs, but also by secondary cities. Caracas, Venezuela is one of these. It became a modern city in the 1950s, with the discovery and successful exploitation of oil, which served as a magnet for the millions, fleeing post-war Europe, or streaming up from the south to make a better life for themselves.

But the urbanization of Caracas is something more; it is, we believe, the model of city evolution for the 21st century. It challenges one, to question the patterns of late 20th-century urban life and development and offers alternative approaches and solutions to complex urban issues. Caracas, in fact, gives us an excellent opportunity to study the Latin American 21st-century city: while the essentials of its conditions are common to the world’s informal cities, it uniquely embodies the interface – perhaps collision – between “first” and “third” worlds.

check out book ; Informal City Caracas Case by Prestel Munich

or

Submarine Videos Holland (VPRO) / Caracas, The Informal City (50 min)
The first in depth documentary to tell the inside story of the new informal urban developments, this groundbreaking film explores our changing world -- the great debate over globalization, architecture and the future of our society. "This is not a mountain full of houses, it is a house as big as a mountain."

www.slumlab.com
www.u-tt.com
urbanthinktank@mac.com

Great Article on Noise Pollution:

http://current.com/items/88816829_science_and_spirit_the_noisy_epidemic

http://tinyurl.com/2vklho

Dig in, it is now and it is happening. Please, do Take in consideration that we can no longer live with the City stereotypes opinions of the past.

The city will become so overpopulated. In LA, so many cars, vans, liquor store, and PEOPLE using the vast lands of California. Uh... We need to stop now.

I think the more interesting story is that people in cities are living with absolutely no sense of the natural world, often in a state of total social alienation. I recently lived in a mid size city, and was involved in volunteer work with the immigrant population, and the second generation kids only knew the city and their cell phones, they had no sense of perspective. There is also a sort of social overload - you can't deal with everyone in a kind and respectful way, you have to avoid eye contact and ignore people, if only as a survival instinct. What does this do to people's sense of the value of human life? I think cities are dangerous for the social repercussions more than anything else.

I agree with rmd22 with her opinion about the new public transportation system that Bogotá put in place a few years back, it has alleviate traffic congestions.
Some of the negative aspects about the rapid growth of Bogotá, particularly affecting poor areas is:
-Illegal building without proper sewing systems, roads, etc.
-The influx of people overruns the government capacity to provide services like schools, hospitals, etc.
-Too many people lower possibilities to find jobs. Most people that move to the cities is less qualified, or come from the country side where they have other kinds of skills.

I moved to Texas 4 years ago from upstate NY. The air here, unlike the air in Saratoga Springs, NY or Taos, NM is absolutely horrible, no, it SUCKS. The dog days of August are the worst. You open your door and shut it because the air is so oppressive. Let's not talk about the roads, traffic or crime. I would take NYC driving, anyday, compared to I35, 20, 30 or 635. Who invented these left hand exits anyway? That guy should be shot along with the signs that accompany them. Crime, is a whole other dissertation. The crime here is worse than NYC and DC put together. It's a scary place the Metroplex. In the 15 years I worked in NYC, I never witnessed crime nor have I ever felt afraid on the streets. Here, it's a whole other story. I've lived in Seagate Brooklyn where Coney Island is just outside the gate and I NEVER felt afraid there.

In a lot of cities in Eastern Europe, traffic problems are being helped by a sort of short-distance hitchhiking. Find a ride at a petrol station or even an intersection. Dangerous, sure, it's also quite helpful.

I've been living in an American metro for some time, and I think this issue of urbanization is universal. If any great social or financial problem were to occur, like the Great Depression, problems would be many times worse because there would not be any 'family farm' to go back to... and many people couldn't subsistence farm if their lives depended on it, literally.

The traffic problems here are not so bad, but housing is a major issue... homes are so expensive that many family members have to pitch in to purchase or rent: fathers in children, or two related families... For my household, four income-earners help pay for a typical 3/2 home.

Yeah - very interesting subject matter. I've just shot a pod about the capital city of Sierra Leone - Freetown. Something like three quarters of the population of the country live in the capital city.

Check out the pod - Freetown: 200 years of freedom? I'd be very interested to hear what you think.

Mariana is so hot right now!!!! :)
plus she's smart!!!!

in buenos aires (sao paulo, rio, etc) this has been happening for a few decades now. the fabelas in brazil, las villas miseria (in capital federal and not) in bsas, private security at the beaches in rio, tons of stuff that has been going on and nothing has been done.

forgot to say:
private neighborhoods in south america boomed about 7 years ago, nowadays, not even those are "safe". these ppl have much more money than most of the population, they need to have security on every entrance, tall walls and or fences around the entire perimeter of the neighborhood, and even, not a joke, some have a moat, NOT a joke.

10 yrs ago, Bogota, Colombia had no money and *massive* traffic problems. Everyone, rich and poor, was was stuck in their cars for hours each day. Bogotanos had to drive to the corner store b/c they couldn't cross a busy avenue and the pedestrian overpasses turned dangerous after dark.
Instead of digging a pricey subway, planners took lanes from surface streets and made them into high-speed, bus lanes. The “Transmilenio” changed the lives of my relatives there.
The mayor behind the plan, Antanas Mocus, is crazy but visionary. He put mimes in intersections to be crossing guards. He had drivers flashing red cards like soccer refs to diffuse road rage. (He's also famous for mooning an auditorium full of rowdy students when he was a university prez.)
Cities in Mexico (DF's MetroBus), Asia, and elsewhere are trying to copy the sleek design of the stations-and the budget. Similar ideas have floated in LA and SF (on Geary). Better living by design? Maybe it's possible.

Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital known for its elegant boulevards and belle époque architecture, is struggling to stem the growth of its slums, known here as villas. One sprawling villa located on valuable land between the port and downtown has doubled from 9442 residents to an estimated 18000 in ten years. Successive governments have promised to urbanize the slums, but they've all failed. Violence is causing problems, most of all for people living in villas run by narcotrafficers, beyond the control of police. The new city government is led by empresario Mauricio Macri, who owns the famous Boca Juniors soccer club - in fact, he helped make the club a successful business. Citizens hope he can create the same turnaround in the villas, but meanwhile some residents are trying to make a buck before their neighborhood gets an overhaul. Competition for affordable homes is so stiff, some residents are selling their land - only problem is, there’s no legal title on the villas’ homes.