'via Blog this'
In most of the world urban/rural means density and surrounding sprawl (megalopolis, strip city) and a very scattered and sparsely populated rural area.
Much of the economic trouble of the world and no small part of its social problems can be accounted for by this pattern. The large city and surrounding sprawl concentrates people toward its center and spreads distribution for miles and miles of sprawl. This subjects people to the difficulties and growing cost of commuting and to what might be called the infrastructure of congestion. Such an environment tends to become uniform worldwide, bearing the marks of its corporate origin. Virtually everything necessary for such a city-sprawl environment comes from the largest global corporations which have thousands of subsidiaries. The Koch Brothers portfolio of companies is instructive. It is a picture of the world we now have. Needless to say, though most of the population is in these strip city or megalopolis areas. the rural areas have far less than the population needed to create a viable local economy.
The solution to the dislocation and expense of this pattern is the development of what C.A. Doxiadis called Ecumenopolis.I knew Doxiadis briefly in the 1960s and his early death and political troubles in Greece vitiated his potential influence. Today we face a sort of global sclerosis because of our commitment to the pattern described. Meanwhile we have advanced to the point that ecumenopolis can be updated to consist of what I call cyber-communities. Roughly 10,000 persons living in car free space with all the amenities of a city within walking distance. Once these are normative, clusters of cyber-communities would naturally exist and enable diversity and easy access between communities. I believe the move toward this updated ecumenopolis has already begun. I also see it as inevitable.
