Great ideas get better
when they are shared and as part of that effort, we have asked several people to
share their ideas with us! Today’s entry was written by our guest, Chanpory Rith
at LifeClever, an
interaction designer with a fresh perspective on the world. You can subscribe
to LifeClever here.
Imagine this: it’s
2050.
You're moving to
a world-class city that rivals Paris, New York and London.
Through ingenuity, this city has tamed dangerous environmental forces to emerge
as a nexus of culture, business, and technology. You’re leaving your old home behind,
because in this new city:
The past is both
preserved physically and integrated symbolically into everyday life. Beautifully
restored buildings respect history while coexisting with new and sustainable developments
that look towards the future. This is not a soulless techno-utopia.
Thinkers and artists
are flocking here to foster new innovation and culture...jobs are plentiful
and housing is affordable...so where is this
city?
Is it Amsterdam? A city that conquered
the encroaching Atlantic Ocean that threatened
to swallow it? Nope.
What about in East Asia, with its numerous artificial islands and rapid
modernization? Nope.
Or perhaps it’s Dubai, the logical culmination
of its extreme urban development in the desert? Nope.
It’s New Orleans, USA..
That’s right, the Gulf Coast. After the Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is ripe for a massive resurrection that will restore
our hope in America
and set an example for the rest of the world. Here's how:
1. Minimize the risk
of catastrophic flooding through hydraulic engineering on a massive scale.
How: The storm surge
of Hurricane Katrina exposed forever the inadequacies of the century-old federal
flood protection system, with its ad hoc system of sandbag fortifications, crumbling
levees, and feeble floodwalls. But it need not be this way. The Dutch, over the
course of the 20th century, incredibly pulled its lowlands (and really, Amsterdam) from its early Atlantic
grave. Maybe we should give the Dutch a call to pick their brains on the subject
of hydraulic engineering.
Benefit: Prevents
the next Katrina-like disaster while generating jobs and attracting leading innovators
to the city.
2. Once tamed, begin
to harness the power of the Gulf itself to explore and understand its still-hidden
mysteries.
How: As a vast interior
ocean basin and emptying point of America’s mightiest river, the Gulf is one of
the world’s largest bodies of water. It’s location as a key strategic hub of commerce
in the Western hemisphere makes the relative lack of scientific and geological understanding
of the area stunning. The Gulf deserves to be explored and understood—always responsibly—for
the sake of making the most of what we have. Why not dedicate swaths of the Gulf
to non-exploitative field experimentation in the research sciences? Why not invite
scientists of international acclaim to come work in the world’s largest research
department to add their ingenuity to our own?
Benefit: Beyond the
potential for discovering more fossil fuels, the Gulf Coast
could also serve as the greatest working natural laboratory for research scientists
in the country, if not the world. The still-young and woefully-neglected research
in the fields of renewable energy resources (hydroelectric power, ocean energy,
and geothermal energy) could see significant breakthroughs, if the Gulf were dedicated
to their continued development and growth.
3. Collaborate with—and
not compete against—the international community to broaden the range of the possible.
How: Part of rebuilding New Orleans means,
not only asking Americans to participate, but reaching out to the world. We must
invite world leaders, artists, and thinkers to participate in revitalization projects.
For example, create collaborative projects for large public art installations, new
educational models, preventative health care and sustainable housing solutions.
Benefit: The whole
world has a stake in the survival of New
Orleans. If its mysteries and passions are lost to history,
it is all of humanity that will be deprived of its audacious charms and rich heritage.
The renaissance of New Orleans
will reawaken real American national purpose and patriotism while engendering respect
from the international community. It could also serve as a bridge in rebuilding
the half-century of needless animosity between the United
States and its Gulf neighbor, the island of Cuba.
4. Promote New Orleans as a true American
melting pot of ideas, peoples, languages, cultures, and social values.
How: The longstanding
multi-ethnic and diverse Creole culture of the
Gulf Coast region including New Orleans have produced
unique cultural breakthroughs like jazz and Cajun cuisine. New Orleans can stand as the ultimate symbol of
American diversity and the ability to create new cultural forms through the nurturing
of difference.
Benefit: It is now
often considered the “most unique” city in America. In the future, it can be the
“most unique” in the world, while attracting ever more varied and exotic cultural
influences from the rest of the world, breathing life and sustenance into the new
old city.
Why it matters to
you!
1. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! For scientists, engineers,
urban planners, skilled craftsmen, and laborers. The perfect place and opportunity
to retrain Big Auto’s Lost Generation.
2. The New Economy
will demand full and efficient utilization of all our national resources. Resource management
will become more important as the “greening” of the economic and social life moves
forward. Research concentrated in the potentially giant organic laboratory of the Gulf Coast could provide the spark for true breakthroughs
in resource management and efficiency. The United States would finally shake its
well-deserved reputation as a resource hog and move forward with the rest of the
world in creating more sustainable approaches to efficiently and responsibly managing
the resources we have.
3. Because "We the
People" simply cannot afford to lose the nerve center of authentic American cultural
production. As American culture
becomes dominated more and more by suburban sameness, it’s ever important to preserve
and promote the unique, rich, and meaningful aspects of American life and history.
Without rebuilding New Orleans,
a unique part of American culture could simply be lost in the next hurricane. But
with enough focus and support, New Orleans can become
the Amsterdam of
the Gulf.
Have comments for Chanpory? Please post them! If you enjoyed this article, you might also like some of the other ideas popping up on PasstheBall.com. Come look, rate, comment and add your own!
