City II

Another interesting lecture on the city – this time by William Mcdonough. I like his idea of transfering the principle of metabolism to industrial processes.
However, I have doubts whether his city planning project in China will be successful. Though brilliantly planned in terms of sustainability and use of energy it is lacking two fundamental components:

1. history
2. culture

It's a problem all planned cities have and even though his plans are without a doubt far superiour to the original ones by the Chinese officials the buildings are shaped by industrial ideals rather than human ones. And what's more, there seems to be no room for natural growth or change within the city. Instead of trying to hide huge rectangular buildings under elevated nature it would be better to make the city itself a pleasant sight. I hope to be proven wrong, but I fear the farmers on the roofs will give up their fields pretty soon for jobs underneath.
Nevertheless, if the plans were applied to existing cities (e.g. Tokyo) they could boost the quality of life there. Only the fear remains that we have reached the point in history where even Chinese officials are more open-minded and innovative than Japan's stuck bureaucrats...

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Another resource for this topic.

City

I found an interesting lecture by James Howard Kunstler on dead vs. vibrant urban spaces. Though I don't agree on his rather martial "a place worth defending"-reasoning, I do share his belief in the need for general de-consumption.
The theories of Chris Alexander might help to cure some of the calamities he adresses.

Shelter

Yes, Tokyo is a concrete desert. In fact, most of Japan is. And like their sandy counterparts, concrete deserts slowly eat up the last oasises.
Nevertheless, when looking for a house in Tokyo we insisted on a garden and after five weekends of investigation we actually found an oasis - with a tiny garden at the edge of a bamboo grove and a commuting time far below the average.
Most people seem to have surrendered to the construction intustry or even think that reputable people nowadays have to reside in either concrete towers or plastic models of American white suburbia.
Consequences:
1. massive soil sealing
2. detachment of the younger generation from living creatures other than humans and excessively petted poodles
3. food has to be grown far away from where people live

I'd like to demonstrate that even with a full time job you can create a nice environment around your house and even grow some food for yourself.