City Identity

     I’ve been trying to search data for my previous blog, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought. So, while keeping that in mind, I want to share another cool website. www.nextgenerationconsulting.com, in here there are many links which is also related movements working on trying to make the environment a better place, a greener city, a more vibrant and healthy living space, and how to increase human wellness in the scale of family, community, town, and country. We’ve all been hearing about how utopian this idea is. But since the beginning of time, the foundation of human development has always been about making things better for their lives.

     Until there came a time when human beings found out that the best thing to do was to stay balance with nature and to strengthen social connection between human beings. People, especially in the west started to learn that happiness comes from balance, not taking up as much as you can, while people in the east are just beginning to get greedy.

The points mentioned here which makes people think that this is a cool city are places that are:

• Resilient
• Authentic
• Have a sense of who they are, e.g. culturally
• Are beautiful, and value good aesthetics
• Are pedestrian friendly
• Have leaders who are open to change

     And a survey in America shows that many people decide where they would like to live first, and then find what they would work in there. So if a nice living place is so important, then this is what we should make to make people work and live happily at the same time.

     A bit out of topic, there are so many movements, volunteering, and social & cultural communities in developed world. I wonder if this is because they have enough to start with to be living such full life, or is do they FEEL they have enough. The phenomenon in the developing countries like my own, I see, is that people don’t care anymore about this intangible stuff, its considered old fashion. New fashion is the west. Cultural shock, cultural lag is always happening throughout the world especially in this global market era. According to the survey on what makes a cool city, if a city has lost its culture and identity, it becomes dull. I really don’t want this to happen.

So if you want to make your community and city cool, find your true self, and don’t be afraid to show it :D

Cities People Planet: Liveable Cities for a Sustainable World , Compact City: Plan for a Liveable Urban Environment, How to Make Cities Liveable