Katie Mack: We got tricked by science fiction into thinking a futuristic city is all about flying cars and crystal towers and hologram billboards but what it really looks like is nice apartment blocks, good mass transit, pedestrian zones with shade trees and safe bike lanes.

We got tricked by science fiction into thinking a futuristic city is all about flying cars and crystal towers and hologram billboards but what it really looks like is nice apartment blocks, good mass transit, pedestrian zones with shade trees and safe bike lanes.

[this post originally appeared on the site formerly known as Twitter; citation: x.com/AstroKatie/s...

The distopian twist ending

All the transit and sidewalks are accessible; there are cute little grocery stores and bookshops and cafes within a short walk of every apartment tower; healthcare is universal and social services are easy to access.

Would live here

Libraries! Because books are great for everyone 🥺

IN every apartment tower. The number of apartment buildings I still see being built without commercial space on the ground floor (and, ideally, a couple of floors of offices) astounds me.

In SF we have new apartment buildings with retail on the first floor, many that are totally vacant since the place opened years ago.

Montreal is getting there. Since the pandemic the city has built more protected bike lanes and a new rail line. More coming montreal.citynews.ca/2024/06/11/m...

Montreal unveils 2050 urban and mobility planmontreal.citynews.ca Montreal’s 2050 plan for urbanization and mobility consists of three areas of intervention: the metropolis, neighborhoods and people

We were just there (in Montreal) a few weeks ago and were remarking on how we'd feel far more safe biking around the city there than where we live.

It seems a bit like Europe 😋

Yeah I was gonna say this is a description of almost any neighbourhood in Amsterdam

Americans were the first brexiters, brits didn't learn a thing 😝

so... a bunch of religious wackos leave Britain for the Netherlands, find their kids are becoming all Dutchie tolerant & see the best way to stay pure & convert some natives is to go colonizing, so they rob some graves, die a lot & take over everything. Not really sure how this relates to brexit 🤔

You had me at Wackos 🤣

I moved to Amsterdam almost exactly a year and a half ago and you’re pretty much describing it. It feels like living in the future but also the past since you go to the market and pay the butcher with your phone.

This is how I want to live my remaining years. I keep looking and not finding, at least not at an affordable price.

🥺

You've just described Quebec City. ;) I moved here from the States (by way of Toronto), and it's pretty much perfect here. (The 15% sales tax covers *a lot* of social programs!)

How did you get into my head 🤔😄

Toronto got pretty close to this if you squint, but all bets are off now, between the neolibs and the reactionaries, we're treading water in a Canada Goose jacket

Hell, several things could be *in* apartment towers

So, roughly, any Western European city in the 1960s.

Ironically, this sounds like Starfield's New Atlantis to me.

...Minus the ever-present full-face tinted helmet space cops.

And security provided by the government ensures diversity, by allowing landlords to accept and support local culture in the shops cafes restaurants galleries spaces.

Can I live inside your imagination?

Provably not, but you could live in the Netherlands

To be fair, we DID get that vision of the future from a certain subset of sci fi... Cyberpunk Dystopia. But it called them arcologies and made them sealed shells controlled by corporations...

A very small-scale (and not self-sufficient) version of an arcology does exist IRL The vast majority of both the population (272 people as of 2020) and services of the town of Whittier, Alaska is in one building.

sounds like my hood in vienna :)

Spam

Labeled by Bluesky Moderation Service

I would add easy access to bathrooms and potable water.

Oh! Yes, lots of public loos and some public showers here and there.

and water fountains not just in the parks! On the streets for all to access.

Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess.

Gross

Nice prompt to block, though.

The original full quote is "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness." So I guess it's apt.

Reported and blocked.

Same.

It's wild how quickly Barcelona became my yardstick for future urbanism after spending some time there.

Barcelona is a good example of not just bikes. They have some good lanes but it’s not a dominant form. Much more of a walking city

The problem is that much of Barcelona is full of trash, graffiti and poorly behaved tourists, and the city isn’t doing much about it.

Maybe “good future” outcomes are less interesting story telling engines, but we should still strive for them

Yes Help people see that possible futures could be beautiful and comforting and that they’re not fantasies but doable

@theearlyworm.bsky.social Cory Doctorow’s recent book *The Lost Cause* is a really good take on what the city of the near future might/can/should be.

@theearlyworm.bsky.social and I just accidentally purchased another copy of the e-book, so if anybody would like to read it, congrats, I have a gift ebook for you.

🙋🏻‍♂️ if this offer is still on the table

@epredota.bsky.social if you follow me, I can DM you the the DL link.

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