50.end
futures | a modest proposal by samo pederson
It is still unclear to me if I belong to a generation in crisis. A bored generation no doubt, an angry generation too, but one of crisis? I cannot say. However there is a lighter path for the future. Here is a proposal for salvation of our society. This is about economy, this is about environment, but most of all, this is about freedom.
copenhagen consumption urbanisation architects plans
Like many others I was left disappointed over the outcome of COP15. For us Danes this was a big thing, as a lot of expectations were appended to it. Among the few highlights were of course Canada’s will to cut emissions by 40%. Before the whole thing was over the media had started its quest on finding scapegoats. Was it the Danish leadership who failed? Was it us, the European countries, who wanted to capitalise on our research and production of technology aiming at renewable energies? No it cannot be us. We are the good guys! Was it America then? Of course China was pointed out. Why should they have the right of polluting? It matters less that their CO 2 footprint per capita is a fraction of ours, and they are the manufacturers of all the commodities we cannot live without. They are not addicted to Play Stations, plasma screens and Prada style as we are. They should learn from our mistakes we say. They should not get our lifestyle. In Denmark we believe we are at the forefront of the green revolution. Yes, we have some wind turbines and biking lanes. We also have Lomborg. However our national sport, surpassing soccer, is shopping. We love to consume. It is our human right! Like freedom of speech. An epitome of our society. We might have read the The Death and Life of Great American Cities but that is America. This does not apply to us. It is fine that our inter-city highways are being surrounded by shopping malls and office compounds. Easy access. Only a few hours drive to work is not bad. Hard struck by financial crisis our government is lowering taxes and encourages us to consume more. No problem, we love that! Our ideals are allotment housing in suburbs. More families get two or more cars. We tackle congestion by expanding our roads, which again increases the amount of people driving instead of using public transportation. Why shouldn’t they? Public transportation is much more expensive anyway. In general we are aware of climate change. Poor polar bears. Therefore we buy organic produce. It is almost same price as non-organic since it is subsidised. We know that politicians should do something. Not us. We have no power. We are addicted to consumption. Hypnotised by Ronald McDonald and Nike’s Swoosh. Okay, why don’t we just admit that we are no example to others? Let us acknowledge consumption as a condition without cure! In these times when climate activists are trying to jeopardise our lifestyle and future growth we need to unite. No doubt we need to reevaluate our true values. Start appreciating things that really matter to us! As resources run scarce it is time to discuss solutions and not only problems. A framework for the future is needed to be set. Here an antidote to extreme solutions as CO 2 quotas and emission reductions prior to 1990 levels is proposed. Restrictions on our lifestyle should be no option. The proposal is instead to optimise capitalism. A ‘space of flows’ on speed. Again with architecture and development as generator. Only with a much larger turnover and quicker realisation periods, maintaining a growth rate that would put China to shame.This
would be obtained by an evolution of Architect and Society. A new Spartais proposed, only the Soldier is replaced with the Architect. Every man would obtain architectural training from the age of 7. By his twenties he would be ready to join the battle. The battle of total urbanisation. A fight for consumption. A state of the ultimate fighter architect will be created. Imagine if Dubai had been built in five years, only ten times its proposed size. The economy generated would have prevented any crisis. Imagine if all of Amazonia was urbanised. Materials are no problem, local timber, Venezuelan oil and so on. For construction, a Helot building force could be employed full-time, in this case any man who has not yet become an architect. It would result in a city, urban Amazonia, dragging a whole continent out of rural poverty into the joy of retail. Imagine how much of the earth still needs to be colonised, needs to be transformed into the cycle of consumption, from factories, to shopping malls, to burger joints. As this first part is a straightforward process we need to deal with a few problems. Which of course is lack of resources. Obviously, drilling for oil would be improved to fit more extreme conditions and able to reach greater depth. New areas of tar sand should be exploited etc. However this would not be enough. One child policy would of course be introduced globally. Yet until a sustainable population size would be reached only Architects’ descendents would have the right to mate. Even when this is reached, a world of equal buying power to western standards would need a few more restrictions. At the age of 50 every human would be terminated. The enormous economical gain from reduced social security expenses in a society with no elderly would be canalised directly into global markets. This might provoke some moral dilemma, however as everything else it would quickly turn into routine. An urbanised world of course affects biodiversity. But who needs more biodiversity than fried chicken, ground beef, grilled fish and shredded pork anyway? It is time to stand up for all the small things that really matter, manifest our core values, to fight for the freedom of every consumer. Welcome to the future! v
66
On Site review 23 Small Things
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator