Back in late February, I sat in on a Cascadia Lecture by Jason McClennan, author of the Living Building Challenge. Being a reader of TrimTab, I was familiar with his written voice and was curious to hear him publicly speak.
He opened with the work Cascadia and the LBC is working towards currently or has accomplished while reflecting on a german word, “Zugunruhe” Meaning Migratory Restlessness, a term mostly used to describe the flight path of avians. The travel to continue the rhythms of nature through its natural wiring. Actually, shortly afterward, I had dinner with my German friend, Johannes, and ran the word by him. It was a term he had not encountered before.
It was refreshing to hear a new perspective on the future of our cities by JM. As an architect, he voiced his personal 2030 projections for trends in the US & Canada :
- Density (15-30 DU/acre),
- Depopulation of cities & reemergence of small towns (villages centered around food systems),
- Local & Regional Economies (based on craft, salvage, durable, uniqueness),
- Re-emergence of Community & the Power of Communication,
- Repurposing of suburbs & the end of the skyscraper age.
Some architecture circles consistently yell build big, build dense which is only appropriate on some scale of an expanding population (read China), but it will be interesting to see how these cities progress over the next decade with the loss of human scale.
After his personal reflection, JM share images from the International Competition Cascadia held for Living City of the Future. It was interesting to see that the submissions clustered under certain relationships and some submissions came from Paris, Australia, Panama, and Columbia. (See my notes for the themes represented) Cascadia announced the images would be released publicly after the Living Futures Conference.
The armies are building to bring the environmental & social change to preserve our cultures and tribes. It’s been exciting living in Portland the past two years and seeing some these ideas emerge to sustain our cities and plan for growth through systems & decentralization and trickling out into various industries. Finally, a strong cross-fertilization is breeding between architecture, building, planning, science, food, energy, waste & nature.
I would leave it there so when folks get to notice they actually have a concept of exactly what it will seem like with their furniture in it and then you can explain to them that you simply were thinking of offering with home furniture and if they don’t like the idea let them know there will be no hassle to taking it with you but if it will help sell the house.
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