Planned Regulated Living

This is a city of planned order. Significant past challenges and crises have created a democratic consensus that a carbon and resource constrained world is best addressed through tighter regulations and laws that limit behaviour and practices to an acceptable environmental norm. The provision of essential services (energy, water, transport, waste in particular) is seen as best achieved through publicly owned institutions; higher taxes to fund such services is accepted by the public. Some private service institutions were renationalised to achieve the new systems of provision. Rational and technocratic approaches guide all areas of development and the use of public assets and capital. Private sector activity is strongly regulated and there is great public trust that the balance between corporate profits and public needs comes from strong government that actively manages the market. Environmental and social ethics is expected to guide all decision making for maximum societal benefits.

New behaviours and practices (and limitations on consumption generally) align with the imposed conditions, as citizens accept the social value of such acquiescence; culturally this is much more significant than individuals who proactively seek more sustainable lifestyles. Sharing is a proud characteristic of urban life, though citizens expect government to facilitate the processes through which shared transactions take place (such as tool libraries).

City/urban information systems are ubiquitous and publicly owned; they provide feedback on consumption levels, for individuals and for communities. Systems of provision of food, water, energy, transport, and waste are based on a distributed model (more localised and networked) and emphasise diversity and redundancy. Rational and technocratic approaches guide all areas of development and the use of public assets and capital.

An 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions has been achieved through: public investment in renewable energy supplies and grid-connected storage; public production of (non-food based) biofuels; reducing per capita energy and material consumption through technological efficiencies; changes in social behaviour and large scale public investment in improving existing building stock; the planning and the evolution of a more compact ‘twenty minute city’, with comprehensive and integrated public transport systems, including bicycling, walking and driverless electric taxis and small community shuttles. The city is highly forested, with street tree, parks and green facades and roofs; storm water and treated waste water is used to support urban plants and urban wetlands, permanent and temporary (for flood control), make the city as blue as it is green. Building codes and standards are strong and regularly tightened. Business premises are more dispersed away from the city centre and teleworking from distributed hubs across the city accounts for almost half of working hours.

The progressive retrofit of existing built infrastructure to meet stringent environmental performance standards has been achieved through government programs and public investment; this continuous retrofitting helps keep employment high even as automation has increased in most areas of production. This is one example of the growth of public services that help the community to maintain environmental standards.

Economic identity is defined by: a market where real full costs of all commodities are recognised and priced (internalised costs); consumers and producers who strongly focus on the public good; consumers accepting careful, moderated consumption for social and environmental well-being; businesses that accept they have a responsibility beyond shareholders; wide social agreement on directions for research and innovation and for high government expenditure on this area; the provision of public infrastructure that makes living a very low-carbon existence easy; valuing of collective, community needs over individual interests and greater equity; and growth measured in various forms of social prosperity as well as GDP.