The Long-Term Thinking Cities Need

A roundtable of discussion of prominent urbanists examines the questions of urbanism with a long-term mindset.

1 minute read

June 26, 2018, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Little Rock 1871

Little Rock, Arkansas in 1871. | Wikimedia Commons

"In this critical moment in urban history, how do we envision the far-out futures of our cities?"

That's the big question posed to a group of prominent urbanists gathered by Longpath, a future-focused initiative based in Irvington, New York.

The urbanists participating in the discussion are:

  • Gil Penalosa, the founder of 8 80 Cities.
  • Sam Liccardo, mayor of San Jose, California.
  • Toni Griffin, professor in practice of urban planning, Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
  • Dan Doctoroff, chairman and CEO, Sidewalk Labs.
  • George Abbott, director, external Affairs, Memphis River Parks Partnership
  • Shelley Poticia, managing director, Healthy People and Thriving Communities program at the Natural Resource Defense Council.
  • Michael Tubbs, mayor, Stockton, California.
  • Michael Berkowitz, president, 100 Resilient Cities.
  • Bruce Katz, author of The New Localism: How cities can thrive in the age of populism.
  • Carol Coletta, senior fellow of American Cities Practice, Kresge Foundation.
  • Jonathan Rose, President; Author of The Well Tempered City.

Two, more specific, questions help the roundtable arrive at insight about the larger question about thinking long-term. First, the roundtable focuses on what needs to change in the mindset of the world to realize their desired future, and second the roundtable discusses the "inflection points" from the last 100 years of urban history that had still influencing the cities of today.

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