Overview
To solve urgent problems we face today, we need to work backwards from a new vision for our future which is hopeful, inclusive and decolonial.
We can't reach a calmer future trying to fix each of our problems separately. Obvious solutions soon fail as the deep causes are interlocked and structural. We need radical paradigm shifts, which require clear analysis, entirely new solutions, and a conscious change of direction.
Our infrastructure paradigms are overstretched, as legacy transport systems grind to a halt. Heavy vehicles create bottlenecks at junctions, and require expensive roads and railway networks. People can't afford to build infrastructure where they need it, so migrate to megacities where it already exists, both within and between countries, with disruptive results. We need better options, and solutions which fix the actual problems.
Overheating megacities have complex economic causes and impacts. We share an abundant world, but our extraordinary industrial productivity collides with infrastructure bottlenecks, building vast pressures. The cost of everything falls except urban land. The cost of living rises, while companies are desperate to reduce staff. Inflated returns on investment crowds out sustainable businesses. Chasing growth alone will only add to these pressures, and cause further environmental and social damage.
Our problems may seem cultural – caused by individual or political choices. Compelling narratives focus on class conflicts, or blame failings like greed. Such explanations divert attention from less obvious systemic causes. Cultural ideas about competition and success also subtly normalise global inequality and persistent conflict. We should be more ambitious than simply aiming to be more competitive.
Working backwards from a future we want seems simple, but I only found these ideas after working on the more obvious solutions, in each sector, first. I'll explain my journey, and why I kept asking deeper questions.
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