When considering our "perfect city" the first thing we thought about was physicial appearance. Our city would be clean and environmentally friendly, everyone would have adequate space for living (space between houses, yards etc) There would be designated space for parks, child-friendly spaces, and a city square.
We also talked about the more administrative side of our perfect city. We decided that elected officials should make up the government. We believe that taxes should be used to fund public projects, schools, transportation system, and libraries. Gradual income tax should be applied, the more you make the more you are taxed. There will be a certain amount of tax money, say 5%, that could be worked off through service to the community. This is a very interesting idea - good thinking.
Education will be a top priority in our community. If we expect our citizens to be able to vote and take care of our city it is our responsibility to educate them. Students would have to take a Voter/Civic Education class that would teach them the basics of government official roles, how taxes work/what they pay for, the social security system, and structure of government/what goes into it. We also want to make it a priority to distinguish ourselves through our unique culture and history. We also want to have a police force but place the main responsibility on a community crime watch system, and use the police as a last resort.
Excellent work. Solid, well defined ideas.
Our perfect city would be located near a calm coast of sorts, perhaps in a bay area(?) to facilitate the movement of imports and exports. All energy would come from the ocean, specifically from oceanic turbines and other environmentally sound technological systems situated off the coast.
Civil liberties would be guaranteed to all citizens, including, but not limited to: free speech, the right to assembly and peaceful protest, the right to bear arms, the right to a speedy and fair trial, and such. All businesses will be required to provide equal opportunity employment. In addition, all common considerations to disabled or less-able persons, and all places of interest/importance would be accessible to all.
The education system would be completely, 100% percent free, with zero financial burden on students. HA! Such programs would be funded by taxes and, as such, would be fully available to all citizens at their discretion. In addition, a portion of fines obtained by conviction of petty criminals would go, in part, to the maintaining of the education system. Very good - excellent.
The busses/subways/transportation should be legit too. Is someone in this group from the Bay Area?
Our ideal city would be a clean city (trash off the streets, clean water, clean air). This is essential because people need to stay healthy and safe. If the inhabitants keep getting sick, no one will be working, companies will shut down and basic survival will be the primary focus. A clean environment supports the growth of flora and fauna, and requires that residential areas are more spread out, rather than dense urban buildings.
There would be free public transportation (trains and buses) and other low cost transportation programs that promote less driving. For example, a community owned bike program that would allow people to 'borrow' bikes at various locations across town. These programs would be important, because an ideal city center would have no automobiles. The city planning would include many park and ride options, easy access to bus and train routes, as well as beautiful walking paths.
An ideal city to live in has a government staffed by citizens of the city. As residents they are invested in the outcomes of their decisions, and are elected by the neighbors. Culturally, the city's investment into the Arts would reflect a balance of restoring and maintaining artistic history while exploring pop culture. This means as a city, residents would contribute to maintain these interests.
Good - taxes will probably be pretty high.
The Three Most Important Qualities of a City:
1. Sustainability/eco-friendly: in long run saves money, provides employment, aid tourism (example: L.A. vs. Portland) LA has terrible air quality and is one of the largest tourist destinations in the United States. Eco friendliness doesn't seem to affect tourism; the presence of Disneyland, however, does., air quality, health, support community/community events, keeps city progressive, fosters local pride and involvement, includes aesthetics ex. park space.
2. Localized government: more accessible than national gov't, sensible allotment of funds (education, cultural awareness, public works, etc), more focus on health, safety and education at a local level, town hall meetings so that everyone has a voice. Consists of elected officials, city constitution, checks and balances.
3. Distribution of Space: easy to navigate streets, divided into districts (i.e. business, industrial, residential), public parks, libraries, theaters, city square, smooth transition from rural, suburbs, and urban areas via lightrail, subway, etc. Respect of historical buildings and sites within city planning. Reasonable population density. Good.
Alyssa S.; Lainie V.; Hannah H.; Josh Z.
1. Education: Required primary education system in order to foster informed decision making and intellectual growth and rational opinion formation. Emphasis not only on core courses, but also on electives, trade skills, skills, technology, extra curriculars to produce well-rounded citizens. Affordable, accessible to all citizens. Opportunity and encouragement to pursue higher education, beyond required education.
2. Government: Needs to be representative of the entire population, needs to have a forum for expressing opinions, checks and balances on power. Opportunity for reform and change. Shared power - do you mean checks and balances or bipartisanship?. Opportunity to have a voting system. Encouragement for civic participation. Honest disclosure of information to the public. Govern with citizen interest as a priority. Works to create a safe environment, has a justice system with a enforcement agency/cies.
3. Culture: Representative of entire population, spaces and venues provided for the expression, community involvement, inclusive of different aspects of population. Allows for representation and involvement of outside cultures. Always evolving depending on advancements. Unique local culture. Includes music, sports, entertainment, art, etc. Good idea, but will this be publicly funded?
The Perfect City
A perfect city would be aesthtically pleasing with trees, rivers and mountains and the like which would provide parks and recreational activities for the betterment of its people's health.The city would care about the health and well being of its people. It would provide communal spaces for relaxation where you wouldn't have to pay to be there. The city would help its people who are in need by providing food, housing and transportation but also work towards an economic stabiltiy where all people work towards responsibility for themselves clarify this a little - define responsibility. Government subsidized programs would be provided but limits would be placed on the time these could be recieved and the people recieving them would have to be monitored to make sure that they are making progress towards independence. The city would also promote cultural activities such as music, art and learning. It would have a public auditorium and library. Many events would be free to the public in order that more people might be able to attend and expand their cultural awareness which would make for better citizens how would these free events be provided? Would everyone be taxed and the revenues used to provide these events?.
-Open forum of negotiation and expression
-Public feeling of saftey in order to promote engagment
-Easy access to information
Each of our three points overlap and work to promote the others. An open forum allows for equal opportunities of expressions. This also protects the ability to share and exchange ideas in open enviroment accessable to every member of the population. This would not be possible without each member of the community feeling safe and protected when sharing their ideas. Therefore the open forum of negotiation will only promote engagment if people feel safe. Easy access to information allows people to educate themselves about what is going on around them in order to form thier own opinions. If you have the access to the information you will feel more confident and more safe when sharing information and ideas with the rest of the community. Good points, but easy access to information is somewhat vague. Is easy access to information provided through an accessible library? A bookmobile? The Internet?
1. A good stable goverment.
The goverment can provide basic necessities such as overseeing utilites, education, homeless shelters, food sources, public services (transportation, parks, museums, streets, enviroment), regulating economy,security, taxes, making sure there is enough space for everyone, laws, and zoning laws. Goverment should be democratic to represent all of the views of the people.
2. Security.
Internal security should include police force, firefighters, correctional facilities (prisons, rehibilitation centers). Every citizen has the right to fill safe. External security such as a wall, missle defense system, militia, and immigration control. That's pretty intense - no doubt your citizens will feel incredibly safe.
3. Culture.
Culture could include different kinds of food, different nationalities at least, the ones that make it past the wall and missile defense system, different kinds of music, abilities for residents to learn about the arts and sciences, no defined sectioned areas (ex. little italy, china town) areas like Chinatown and Little Italy traditionally develop as cultural enclaves where immigrants settle in order to be close to their own people - do you want them outlawed or would you prefer that immigrants are better integrated into the city?, and a balanced eduacation system that teaches different languages of city. Culture can improve the tourism industry and can help dimish crime (there will be more tolerance with education and religion). Culture should also inspire citizens to learn more about their surroundings, how to be more efficient in what way?, and how to be enviromentally concious.
Cindy Nelson
Sophie Conner
Kelsey Jarone
Perfect City:
governmental system: based on the security and right to feel safe, a city should provide a system which includes authority and a resource to feel so. Healthcare would be provided for everyone regardless of financial status.If a person is paying taxes or over the age of 18, they have the right to vote in the democratic system. The city provides an unbiased education discussion group once a week to educate the public concerning city issues is this a city council meeting, or something larger? .The government will also support entrepreuner promote local food corperations as well as water and electricity.
transportation: the city government will help provide transportation such as bicycle routing, developing safe and secure roads, and a public transportation for those who cannot provide their own mode of transportation--such as a bus system.
community building (right of expression of all cultures): a place where people have the access to express themselves such as a performing arts center, local venues, and outlets to provide information for outside cities. Most importantly, the purpose of this center is to provide an outlet that people can feel safe expressing their own cultural beliefs. How much free expression is allowed (e.g. KKK, anti-gay groups)
1. Education: If there is a good public eduation system for the youth of the city, the future of the city will be more hopeful and promising. Those who are educated will have problem solving skills, career choices, and intelectual thoughts to work with other city members. Without a well educated population, ingenuity will be limited and the city will not be capable of reaching its full potential.
2. Safety: One must feel safe and secure in the city they live in. Without a standard of public safety, people won't want to live in the city because danger creates anxiety. A city full of people in fear is not ideal because the fear and anxiety could potentially lead to further issues. If citizens are hesitant to leave their homes, a strong sense of community will not be present. Citizens must feel comfortable to be themselves and express their intrests.
3. Diversity/ Character: Diversity gives people a chance to learn from others and open there minds to new possibilities. Every city must be unique in its own way and have defining aspects that characterize it. These could include anything from a diverse population of different races, religions, and interests or a variety of architecture, culture, and the ambience that the city portrays. If the city has a "je ne sais quoi" it will draw others and boost tourism and thus the economy.
Very good points - however, it would be a good idea to extrapolate on how you plan to accomplish some of these goals of diversity and safety. Will taxes fund cultural enlightenment programs, etc?
-Health and Sanitation
Available health services and sanitation services would lead to a healthy and active public. This will also allow culture to flourish by improving living conditions which will shift the overall mentality away from being focused so much on day-to-day survival towards such areas that would previously have been very difficult to pursue without these services. Like what?
-Localized Government
A localized government would ensure public safety and porvide leadership for the city. It allows for citizens to communicate and interact with higher authority. By having some sort of government office within the city it will provide a place for people to go to voice their opinions and concerns.
-Education and Cultural Outlets
By educating the population you are improving the work force which would then improve the city as a whole. Cultural outlets such as theatres, opera houses, libraries, and public venues will allow the public to expess ideas and gain broader prospectives by going to these places.
REPEAT
-Health and Sanitation
Available health services and sanitation services would lead to a healthy and active public. This will also allow culture to flourish by improving living conditions which will shift the overall mentality away from being focused so much on day-to-day survival towards such areas that would previously have been very difficult to pursue without these services.
-Localized Government
A localized government would ensure public safety and porvide leadership for the city. It allows for citizens to communicate and interact with higher authority. By having some sort of government office within the city it will provide a place for people to go to voice their opinions and concerns.
-Education and Cultural Outlets
By educating the population you are improving the work force which would then improve the city as a whole. Cultural outlets such as theatres, opera houses, libraries, and public venues will allow the public to expess ideas and gain broader prospectives by going to these places.
1) Security in the sense of public safety providing defense for the populace, and the public's right to protect their private property right to bear arms? Concealed carry?.
2) Efficient physical layout such as building plans, infrastructure, availability of public transportation, mid-size city so it is not overpopulated or too rural. Efficient layout would provide a setting where the population would match the size of the city.
3) Democratic government that is able to maintain a sustainable city through human rights, agriculture, a diverse job market, taxing, education, and legal system.
Good points, but it would be good to go more in depth about how these things would come to pass.
1. Focused and accessable downtown area with nearby suburbs and rural space, whose population is readily involved.
A central space where people can congregate for business or entertainment - town meetings, concerts, sporting events. This enables a close-knit, active population.
An urban growth boundary limits the infringement of cityspace on those who choose a different lifestyle. Very good.
2. Clean and safe environment for all ages, races and religions.
Diversity is key. Why?
Respect between the citizens, for the buildings and for various ways of thinking create a welcoming place.
In order to provide for the citizens, there must be a balance of public servants, educational services, available public transportation and cultural activities.
3. Progressive, forward-thinking city with an emphasis on the relationship between the developed and natural resources.
Newly created buildings should be ecofriendly and sustainable. A combination of new, old and restored buildings, which consider their best possible uses, preserve the history of the city (through urban renewal.)
Characteristics of a perfect city:
1. Government
There needs to be some sort of justice system in order to balance justice and freedom. Also, a well formulated government would inform the public of policies and laws, as well as keep crime rates low. It is important for the citizens of a city to feel like their thoughts and opinions are represented.
2. Education
There must be a school system in order for the public to be educated in the important aspects that run a perfect society (such as economics, language, advancements in technology, government policies, etc.). With an educated populus, the soceity can properly advance.
3. Freedom of Expression
The people in a city need to be able to express themselves through art, media, and opinions of public policy. This gives the people a sense of effectiveness, involvment, and community. Without a proper forum to express the populace's opinions, even the most educated of ideas will go overlooked. Well put.
In our perfect city, each neighborhood would have access to schools, hospitals, and other services within a 20 minute walk how would this be implemented? Zoning laws?. By providing these serviceds so close to home, it eliminates driving. Less driving means a cleaner environment and a healthier and more active population. Having services in walking distance of neighborhoods encourages more local shopping because the shops would be easy to access.
When it comes to the homeless population in our city, we believe that as many opportunities should be given to them as possible, but they should still have to take responsibility. Services and programs such as job placement, food services, shelters, and evening classes such as money management should be offered to the homeless. Giving the homeless access to these classes would instill a sense of responsibility for their own wellness as well as giving them the means and resources to find and keep a job. Good
To us, keeping things local is a really good quality in a city. The convenience of keeping shops and stores close to neighborhoods would encourage people to shop locally and seasonally. This would create a support system of local art, music, and farmers. By "keeping things local" do you mean that you want everything in the city kept close in order to make it walkable, or no chain stores and only locally grown produce?