Future thrills

What makes a city great to live in? Interesting to visit?  Useful? Of value to you?

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Are we not interested any more?  In many cities the people living there are not taking part in the processes of forming a living environment.

We now have city districts where nobody lives – they just work there – and then they go home to the suburban sprawl.

We must change that and make sure that urban environments include people of all categories and that the processes for urban development includes the people who live there. 

New principles for urban design needs to be used/developed: participatory processes, functions, form, visuality, living night and day …

The German band Kraftwerk is mirroring the identity of the country after the war. They were formed in 1970 by Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter, and is the most important band in the development of modern electronic music.

Some say they are making hits by stereotyping German identity and at the same time contributing in building a new German identity.

Themes have been Autobahn, Roboten, promoting internationality through the use of many  languages, EU. They advocate the use of computers, although reserving themselves in relation to person information. 

Many global institutions have worked well for a long time, but changes of many kinds have produced a need for reform.

First the economic and political balance is changing and so must the ways we cooperate on a global level. New players are increasing their influence and/or entering the arena: China, India, Brazil, Europe, Africa, Arabian/Muslim …..

We need institutions for military/peacekeeping operations, politics, economics and finance, including an international bank, trade, climate/pollution questions, competition fairness – especially between  multinationals.

How do we empower the institutions and how do we best choose the countries to represent us? Do we start with a UN-like organisation and develop it from there or do we let the biggest nations take the lead? How important should future G7 or 8 meetings be, do we practice loose consultations or do we formalise the processes? 

Transparency and predictability are necessary, as well as wide willingness to participate and wide acceptance of agreements. 

There are institutions on many levels today – Nordic and other regional, European, Asian, the Americas etc. which undoubtedly can handle many questions arising.

What can be done in relation to power structures, via active politics?

Elements of power: Economical, political, military, cultural  

October 2008: New financial system needed says Gordon Brown:

Only through global cooperation can we restore confidence and rebuild the international system of finance. He wants a meeting with world leaders to draw up a new financial architecture – like at Bretton Woods in 1944.

Efforts at international economic cooperation on a large scale have not been very successful earlier. The role of the US has diminished and the new players are not ready yet?