Geoff Mulgan

Future Communities: building cities for life

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为人民服务

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What people want from cities: a good living, a good life, friends,family, the sources of happiness

What cities deliver: opportunity,mobility, jobs, money ...+ stress,loneliness, fear & abandonment

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The great challenge for 21st century cities: mastering three dimensions of design: economic, ecological and social

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The great 21st century cities will be based on the circular economy (materials, energy, flows) & the circular society ...

More circuits!

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Happiness: comes from relationships, health, income, jobs, neighbours, giving...

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Future communities: synthesising what is known about social design to help major developments

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The new cities…

11Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. Foster & Partners

12Hammarby Sjöstad, Sweden

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But where are the people?

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The first generation ever whose life expectancy is higher than the life expectancy of buildings

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1. Be ambitious for the future – but learn from the past, from what has and hasn’t worked

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Cabrini Green, Chicago

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Moss Side, Manchester ,UK

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Paris projets, France 2005

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Living ecosystems are never made up of identical

repetitions

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Living things have multiple, complex edges, gateways and passages

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2. Understand how people live and what makes them feel they belong

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- Interaction but not too much, lines of sight; privacy without isolation

- Boundaries and identities

- Ease of movement for children and elderly...

The fine detail of design for sociability

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‘We should try to introduce into our modern villages & towns what was always the lovely feature of English & Welsh villages, where the doctor, the grocer, the butcher & the labourer all lived in the same street. I believe it is essential for the life of a citizen ….. to see the living tapestry of a mixed community.’ Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Housing,

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3. Design in incompleteness: the best cities evolve themselves rather than

only following a masterplan

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4. Nurture social networks – accelerate them in the early stages

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Community led hyper-local websites

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5. Design for ‘green’ behaviour – make the defaults easy

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Agenda21 Design Homes.

Kronsberg, Hanover, Germany.

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Wimbledon smart travel schools project

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Paris, London & other cities providing bicycles & green buses ….

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6. Create communities that work for everyone – good fences make good neighbours but

too many walls breed fear

39Gated Community, UK

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7. Design in enabling infrastructures and circuits: make

society visible to itself

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Empower citizens as well as systems e.g. smart grids for energy

45Curitiba, Brazil.

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8. Grow social circuits, exchange, mutual support, spaces for enterprise

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Urban agriculture and edible cities

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9. Encourage myths, stories, meaning - and link past, present and future

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Mobile apps, cities that speak, oral history

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53Vauxhall Bridge Apartments, London

54Borneo Housing, Amsterdam.

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10. Cultivate collaborative leadership, empowerment contributes to happiness

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Energy & water efficiency as well as resident engagement ‘designed in’ at BedZED

The Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED)

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- Households & businesses achieve significant reductions in environmental impact just by living or working at the development.

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Grow collaborative leaders!

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People make sense and order anywhere – but it’s better to help them make order that is good for life

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Most cities were created for kings, traders or gods – not for life. We know what helps life – circuits, edges, exchange - and what makes loveable cities. And we know what happens if they’re missing …. …

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1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Anxiety, depression etc

Extrapolated trend

Anxiety and depression

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Proportion of Americans with no-one to talk to about important things

200425%

198510%

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Recoupling growth and happiness?

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‘The future’s already here – it’s just unevenly distributed’

William Gibson

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Lets create a movement for better social design, for multiplying circuits, edges, relationships in the cities of the future

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为人民服务