2022: Creating a Lexicon of Future
Field Guide to Flourishing: H is for Human
Designing to “human scale” means design that is optimized for human use. This can apply to any perspective from physical to psychological. It is quintessentially Human Centered Design of urban spaces. Human Scale is the design of physical elements to elicit the best response from human users. At times, this means tools that lead to the most efficient completion of tasks. Other times, it is the design of elements to generate the most positive psychological response. ~ Human Centered Cities Must be Built at Human Scale
Housing
As it is…
I’m watching this real time in Austin as any chance of home ownership is moving further out of reach for local residents as houses become commodities to be traded. Today’s example is not only fiscally out of reach for most people, it’s not designed to be physically accessible, so there is no place for aging or disabled people in this commoditized model:
…as it could be
Imagine, just for a moment, that instead of supporting a system of top-down predatory capitalism that benefited a select group of people & entities, we had a cooperative capitalism model that operated with a long-term vision designed to seed, root, grow and keep sustainable wealth locally. A system that valued the non-monetary keystone capitals that move us beyond making a living to making a life. ~ Reclaiming 640 Acres: How and WHY to seed, root, grow and sustain wealth locally
Food
As it is…
There was a time that almost everyone farmed and grew food for themselves and their neighbors and or trade, local trade and so on. But at some point, surplus became more important than feeding people. Growing food, or growing crops in order to sell them and make money became more important than growing crops to feed people.
And that process accelerated since 1500, or whenever you want to say capitalism began. To the point where, in the States at least, 95% of crops are basically grown as cash crops. And the question is almost never ‘What is the land telling us we want to grow? What can we grow that will be most beneficial for our community? What can I grow that’s most nutritious that will damage the land as little as possible?’ Those are not questions that are being asked.
Growing food, or growing crops in order to sell them and make money became more important than growing crops to feed people. ~ Mark Bittman’s warning: the true costs of our cheap food and the American diet
…as it could be
