What Cities Ought to Know about Life

Abstract

The good news: We haven’t discovered the secret of a high quality of life in the future. The even better news: There is no secret. On the contrary: Most of the ingredients are already known. The not quite so good news: There’s a lack of competence in implementing this knowledge, and a lack of resolve to do so. Beginning with the individual. For: Before we foist off the guilt for this failure on the usual suspects — institutions and organizations — we should first examine very carefully what we ourselves are leaving unutilized in the way of potential to effect change. Because maturity also means taking responsibility for oneself. And the future is also that which each individual makes of it. Don’t worry. That doesn’t mean that the general framework conditions and those who are responsible for them don’t need just as much change. It just means that the automatic, trance-like finger-pointing at others as the source of the problem does not possess above-average potential for shaping the future.