The 19th Century City in the 21st Century

Cities are Evolving

My father was born in a 19^th century city called Brooklyn, part of Greater New York. He spent most of his days in 20^th century suburbs, leafy streets linked by freeways, every sphere separated by zoning.

I was born into that kind of city. I will pass away in a 19^th century city.

That’s what the 21^st century is leading us toward.

There is no longer a reason to separate shops, homes, and offices with explicit, complex zoning requirements. That’s because the noise of electric motors is nothing like that from gas engines.

What’s coming won’t be entirely like 19^th century London. Instead, every town we now call a suburb will have a defined center. As with Decatur, Georgia, the town nearest me, that center will feature stick-frame apartments, with restaurants, medical and lifestyle shops on the bottom. These apartments will include home-office space.

I see the back of each apartment building hosting, not mailboxes, but lockers to which shopping can be left and picked up, safe from thieves. I see gardens at the top, with vertical solar panels tilted to moderate the sunlight and temperature. Build enough of these and this lifestyle becomes affordable for a middle class couple.

Anyone living outside the center will still be just 5 miles from something like a center. At that distance, electric bikes are practical for most chores. This will do more to change urban design than anything. Even a significant minority on two wheels will force cities to prioritize bikes over cars. Especially since nearly all kids will be on bikes.

I see schools evolving, from classrooms and gyms outside the city into social centers and tutoring centers integrated in the suburban cores. What we now call the presentation and testing phases of education can be done online. It’s the one-to-one connection when you “don’t get it” that’s still needed, along with socialization. We keep the gym and put a stage on one side.

Factories will still be out of town, but they will be lightly staffed by highly paid professionals, not the line workers of the 20^th century. Robots and networked computers will provide heavy lifting and intelligence. Much of the required energy will be sourced locally. Think of cloud data centers recycling the heat of their servers. See the roofs and parking lots as solar farms, providing energy to batteries stacked at the side of each building.

Is this a dream? Yes. Is this what we’re evolving toward? Yes. It’s a lot more sustainable than what we have. This is what 2060 will look like, as I stare down wistfully from my perch in heaven. All cities need to do now is plan for it, zone for it, and accept it. Wichita will become more like Eindhoven.