Urban Solutions: Are We Chasing Utopia?

Generally speaking, the description of any Utopia that involves many details is apt to be an unconvincing way to present a principle which can be applied effectively in practice with immense flexibility as to details…
(Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to Henry James, July 10, 1924, Papers, Regional Plan Association, Cornell University)

A cadre of government, activists, academics, developers, and the technology sector are moving forward with fine-tuning cities in new contexts, with specific lists of attributes and goals. Among the inevitable focal points of any prescription: smart, affordable, walkable, mixed-use communities with live-work proximity, green and sustainable features.

But the age-old dance of human and machine provides considerable fodder and fascination from history, including the risks of indiscriminate cliché versus the realities of sociocultural and market implementation.

The Vision, Chasing Utopia

In the 1920’s, planners in the New York region wrestled with how to re-plan cities and suburbs — “community planning”– amid the ascent of the automobile…