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City of Sound is about cities, design, architecture, music, media, politics and more. Written by Dan Hill since 2001.

2030

Written in

August 12, 2008

Dan Hill

For future reference, a fairly random selection of urban visions/strategy statements. Interesting how many are pinned on 2030. Far enough away to enable the magical convergence of speculation and possibility? I presume Cerda’s Barcelona plan or Hausmann’s equivalent for Paris weren’t framed in the context of a quarter of a century hence? New York’s and London’s here have the feel of ongoing development projects instead (perhaps therefore forgoing the opportunity to envision the future of each city? But perhaps also more pragmatic.)

Please do add any more you know of.via the comments link below.

4 responses to “2030”

Phil Gyford

August 12, 2008

Around the turn of the century most future visions seemed to focus on 2020. I wonder at exactly what point in a decade these visions jump forward another ten years.

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Jarrett

August 15, 2008

Yes, and the Strategic Public Transport plan I’m doing for Canberra is using 2031. I think the convergence here is simply the result of fairly uniform and perhaps unreflective planning practice.
The setting of a ‘strategic’ study year is actually a fascinating problem. The further in the future it is, the less today’s citizens care, but if it’s too close to the present the vision becomes too constrained by today’s policies and priorities. Strategic plans ask citizens to pretend that they are less constrained by today’s mindsets and politics than they actually are. Twenty to thirty years into the future seems to be the best horizon for this, and it’s been that way for several decades as I recall.

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John

August 18, 2008

US cities are adopting Architecture2030’s (http://www.architecture2030.org/) “2030 Blueprint”, due mainly to founder Ed Mazria’s persistent lecturing and lobbying. How Mazria determined that 2030 is the date by which all buildings in the country (world?) need to be carbon neutral is beyond me, but it’s a date that has surely stuck, especially as Mayors around the country buy into the argument. As the president starts to set goals even further in the future (2050 in some recent press release) I’m sure the 2030 date will just get pushed further back…or is that forward? The cynical part of me thinks that there’s a complete lack of commitment on the part of most governments and individuals, as climate change doesn’t have the immediate impact of, say, a hurricane devastating a city, even though they’re both related.

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Brandon

August 24, 2008

I read this vision report for Ogden-Salt Lake-Provo, Utah, A.K.A. The Wasatch Front. It focuses on life in the area in 2040

Click to access wasatchchoices2040report.pdf

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