The future decline of cities (#journal)

Urbanisation: A brief episode in history

 This paper concerns the decline of cities over the coming decades. Taking the long view, the paper analyses the growth and fall of civilisations and their cities. The discussion then moves on to how modern civilisation came about, arriving in a state of ‘Possessive Individualism’ and our technology-dominated, consumerist world of megacities. The role played in this by fossil fuels is analysed and the way this could never have been sustained for long is made clear. The second half of the paper presents scenarios of the future, a return to  more localised economies organised as networks of villages. Agriculture and the use of local resources may once again characterise the way in which societies function. The paper discusses how this might unfold both logistically and in terms of people's consciousness.