1. Geoff Mulgan
Future Communities: building cities for life

2. 为人民服务
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5. 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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6. The great challenge for 21st century cities:
mastering three dimensions of design:
economic, ecological and social
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7. More circuits!
The great 21st century cities
will be based on the circular
economy (materials, energy,
flows) & the circular society ...
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8. Happiness: comes from
relationships, health, income, jobs,
neighbours, giving...
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9. Future communities: synthesising what is known about social
design to help major developments
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10. The new cities…
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11. Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. Foster & Partners 11

12. Hammarby Sjöstad, Sweden 12

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14. But where are the people?
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15. The first generation ever whose life expectancy
is higher than the life expectancy of buildings
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16. 1. Be ambitious for the future – but learn from
the past, from what has and hasn’t worked
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17. Cabrini Green, Chicago
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18. Moss Side, Manchester ,UK
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19. Paris projets, France 2005
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20. Living ecosystems are
never made up of identical
repetitions
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22. Living things have multiple, complex edges,
gateways and passages
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23. 2. Understand how people live and what
makes them feel they belong
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24. The fine detail of design for sociability
- Interaction but not too much, lines of
sight; privacy without isolation
- Boundaries and identities
- Ease of movement for children and
elderly...
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26. ‘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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27. 3. Design in incompleteness: the best
cities evolve themselves rather than
only following a masterplan
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30. 4. Nurture social networks – accelerate them
in the early stages
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32. Community led hyper-local websites
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34. 5. Design for ‘green’ behaviour – make the
defaults easy
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35. Kronsberg, Hanover, Germany.
Agenda21 Design Homes.
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36. Wimbledon smart travel schools project
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37. Paris, London & other cities providing
bicycles & green buses ….
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38. 6. Create communities that work for everyone
– good fences make good neighbours but
too many walls breed fear
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39. Gated Community, UK 39

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43. 7. Design in enabling
infrastructures and circuits: make
society visible to itself
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44. Empower citizens as well
as systems e.g. smart
grids for energy
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45. Curitiba, Brazil. 45

46. 8. Grow social circuits, exchange,
mutual support, spaces for enterprise
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49. Urban agriculture and edible cities
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50. 9. Encourage myths, stories, meaning - and
link past, present and future
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51. Mobile apps, cities that
speak, oral history
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53. Vauxhall Bridge Apartments, London 53

54. Borneo Housing, Amsterdam. 54

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56. 10. Cultivate collaborative leadership,
empowerment contributes to happiness
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57. The Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED)
Energy & water efficiency as
well as resident engagement
‘designed in’ at BedZED
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58. - Households & businesses achieve
significant reductions in
environmental impact just by living
or working at the development.
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59. Grow collaborative leaders!
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61. People make sense and order
anywhere – but it’s better to help
them make order that is good for life
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62. 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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63. Anxiety and depression
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
Anxiety, depression etc
Extrapolated trend
2%
0%
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025
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64. Proportion of Americans with no-one to talk
to about important things
1985 2004
10% 25%
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66. Recoupling growth and happiness?
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67. ‘The future’s already here – it’s just
unevenly distributed’
William Gibson
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68. Lets create a movement for better social
design, for multiplying circuits, edges,
relationships in the cities of the future
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70. 为人民服务
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