Vision

My vision for those interested

 

Cities. They represent the pinnacle of human development whose design influences their inhabitants’ behavior in many different ways. They influence what people consume, how they consume, how they move around, and how they interact with each other. With ongoing urbanization bringing more than two billion new urban dwellers in the next few decades[1], with metropolitan areas as populated as Tokyo, and with other cities predicted to grow to over 50 million citizens by 2075[2], we are far from having seen the limits of what cities can be or do. What we can know for sure is that cities and how we design them will be one of the most important contributors to a future that is sustainable, social, and constructive for society[3].

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But what are cities? I have been inspired by books in the likes of Next Nature[4] and Scale[5], to see cities as true living organisms that feed, grow[6], reproduce and evolve. Consider this for a moment: around 600 million years ago, individual cells came together to increase their chances of survival[7] - forming the bigger whole that is a multicellular organism (plants, fish, insects, dogs, you, and me). Around 10 thousand years ago, multicellular organisms (people) came together to increase their chances of survival - forming the bigger whole that is a city (Figure 1).

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I believe that this perspective, of seeing cities as living organisms, can be groundbreaking in our approach to designing cities. Consider our own bodies, for example. They function because all our billions of cells communicate, connect and collaborate. In the same way, cities can only function if their citizens communicate, connect, and collaborate. This insight has formed the core of my ambitions: to bring people together, and to do so in fun and meaningful ways. Not only because it is vital to the success of our cities, but also because it is healthy for the human spirit.

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However, in the past two decades, we have started to replace our local city life with global digital life[8]. While inventions such as the Internet and social media have given billions of people access to information, resources, opportunities, and connections, they have also contributed to new threats and challenges. Misinformation[9], manipulation, polarization, loneliness, and depression, to name a few. I believe many of these digital shortcomings can be compensated by bringing people together again in the physical environment. In our cities and public spaces. It is time to find a healthy balance between our physical and digital lives.

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I wish to achieve this in my work by bringing new innovations to our city centers and public spaces. I dream of cities rich with activities and interactions that bring wonder and engagement with our environment and each other (Figure 2). Of cities full of change and beauty. Cities that are worth exploring. Cities that are great, just like the people in them.