ana016: The Future of Cities

In a rare in-person episode, Tim and Joe speculate about how technological trends will shape the future of cities. Use hashtag #ana016 to reference this episode in a tweet, post, or comment View full show notes at anarchitecturepodcast.com/ana016. Intro FINALLY WE CAN TALK SERIOUSLY ABOUT FLYING CARS Discussion Joe's report from the future: Living in Australia is like living 15 years ago in the US Actually, Amazon Australia Launched 3 weeks after we recorded this episode. WE MAKE THE FUTURE HAPPEN Australia's NBN: National Boondoggle Network By the time it's installed, it's obsolete Crowding out private investment A perfect example of why governments shouldn't build infrastructure Status quo thinking Grandiose infrastructure projects vs. necessary maintenance The Strong Towns approach Smart Cities Sensors and centralized management Algorithms and AI Informing future development Roads and complexity - Can AI optimize traffic? Smart grids - balancing demand Hayekian knowledge problem How useful is all of this information? What's the real benefit? Incremental development vs. political grandstanding Joe's market solution for traffic light priority To optimize road systems, privatize them Automated Vehicles A giant leap, or incremental adoption? Communication, reaction time, and automatic re-routing Vast improvements in vehicle safety Induced demand Expanding the suburban catchment area: an exponential relationship Urbanization, Suburbanization and Exurbanization Telecommuting Robots building robots to build other things Benefits of face to face meetings Milton Keynes - No relation to defunct economists Patrik Schumacher's EXTREME view: a 15 minute commute is too far Economies of agglomeration "Cities are the brains that direct the rural muscle" Ed Glaeser - Triumph of the City Skyscrapers and Universities "We could be the new Pittsburgh!" Another Adelaide boondoggle - the new medical precinct Adelaide's coming rental market crash Foreign buyers will lose their shirts A paucity of safe investment opportunities - because CENTRAL BANKS Job opportunities draw people to cities Slums and favelas - a symptom of opportunity Resourcefulness of slum dwellers to compensate for lack of capital Property rights for slums The Long Now Foundation Demographics - Human population as an "S" curve Feeding the Cities Vertical Farms - might make sense if they're horizontal A long way from crowding out the land Permaculture - pigs are high tech Monoculture - the result of subsidies Logistics Automated Delivery Online grocery shopping - more energy efficient Night time deliveries Fedex's parking ticket manager Automated Vehicles, Congestion, and Parking Drop you off, go park itself Changing multimodal transit Dynamic routes - adapting to needs in real time Doubling peak hour congestion? Eliminating on street parking? Induced demand strikes again FLYING CARS - THE REAL SOLUTION Peter Thiel - "We wanted flying cars, and we got 140 characters" Jetsons? Rin tin tin? Flubber? Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! Automated vehicles are a necessary prerequisite to flying cars Flipping the city upside down Streets become streets again - more public spaces Don't park - Hover! Helicopter taxis in Sao Paulo Energy density is essential Micro nukes flying around the city driven by self-aware AI's - what could possibly go wrong? Other Advances in Energy Thorium reactors Virtual power plants - aggregating decentralized power sources "Behind the meter" schemes Solar farm shares rather than roof-mounted Photovoltaic roof shingles Solar roads - a non-starter Batteries Your car can power your house Quick charging stations WE NEED THE ENERGON Construction Industry Technology Modular construction Bricklaying robots Tim loves watching masons work 3D printed buildings Drone cranes - what could possibly go wrong? Japanese demolition - No more working at heights VR Drone site visits Holographic design Augmented Reality Virtual Reality Will we still build real places? Authenticity matters Cities provide authentic experiences VR allows people to live where they want Virtual 20th High School Reunion is better than the real thing Are haptic hugs creepy? The Future of Politics A path to privatization? The trend towards decentralization favors free markets and deregulation Technology - tool for liberation or control? Liberty Minecraft - The Virtual Built Environment of a Stateless Society Two trends: individualization and voluntary socialization Two more trends: Technology disrupting jobs and technology creating ultra-abundance Low skilled workers becoming more entrepreneurial Passive income opportunities Reason to be optimistic Links/Resources Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says NBN was a mistake and it may never make money Strong Towns Waze Traffic Jam Experiment (Video) Automated Cars in Intersections - Pretty sure this is faked, but illustrates the idea. Induced demand Ed Glaeser - Triumph of the City The Long Now Foundation Seminars About Long Term Thinking (SALT) Clock of the Long Now (Danny Hillis SALT Talk) Stewart Brand on Cities and Demographics (SALT Talk) Vertical Farming Permaculture: Permies Drew Sample - Urban Permaculture Peter Thiel's Manifesto About Flying Cars (and some other stuff). TL;DR Thorium Reactors Virtual Power Plants Blockchain based "Behind the Meter" Scheme in Australia Tesla's Photovoltaic Roof Shingles Transformers Energon China: 57-Story Skyscraper built in 19 Days Japanese Building Demolition Google Earth - Kennedy Space Center Liberty Minecraft