Urban Times – The New Old Town – An Idealized Future

urbantimes.co. May, 2012. This post builds on concepts originally introduced by “Why Place Matters in the Built Environment: Part I” and “Why Place Matters in the Built Environment: Part II.” In essence this article presents an idealized version of the future which takes into account the constraints within which we are currently operating (in terms of diminishing natural resources) while using the emerging concepts of place discussed in the previous two articles.

At some point in the coming decades societies across the globe will face a reality of rapidly declining oil supplies. We will have effectively explored, extracted, and consumed the world’s oil supplies to the point where we cannot feasibly run the same system that we have been this past century. Societies have to adapt to this reality and find a new way of living, thus the push for sustainability. The United States, despite what some believe, is not exempt from this reality.