We live in a harrowing and perilous time of change. We must begin to understand that the places and lives we have constructed are no longer possible. Now, with over half the earth's people already crowded into cities (80 percent of Americans now live in urban centers), we wonder: how can we shape a usable, durable and sustainable future, in the next city?



Do we have enough courage, and perhaps most of all do we have enough imagination, to envision how to live correctly on this earth? Can we alter the patterns of human settlement and human communities, so that we at last live peacefully with the planet, instead of speedily continuing its destruction? Can we alter our cities and towns quickly enough, and with a wholly different life in mind, to shape a usable and stable future in the next city? Let's begin the search for answers.