In a comment following the 18 March post “ON THE ECONOMY” Anon 12:00 PM said…
“Functional human settlement patterns will solve all our problems – by definition.”
He / she was, perhaps, doing a funny but they have a point.
We are painfully aware that many – ranging from advocates of remineralization; to vegetarians; to enforcers of family values; to those who advocate the right to carry concealed weapons into PTA meetings – suggest if everyone would just do as they suggest “all our problems will be solved.”
That is why we spent over a decade writing The Shape of the Future and why PART TWO (Chapters 5 thru 14) spellS out in detail the economic, social and physical impacts of dysfunctional human settlement patterns.
So far no one has disputed the reality of these impacts. They have disputed the collective will of citizens to do anything about them.
It is silly to say functional human settlement patterns will solve “all our problems.” It is accurate to say that functional settlement patterns will facilitate solving many problems like the Mobility and Access Crisis and the Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis that underlie the current financial market turmoil.
What is more, as documented by Chapter 23 of The Shape of the Future, evolving functional human settlement patterns is the first step on the road to creating a sustainable trajectory for civilization.
Even with functional human settlement patterns there are some complicating factors such as human genetic proclivities and the question:
Will the genetic proclivities that got humans to this point keep them from going farther?
And, what IS “farther?”
EMR
