A World Fair Event!
A World Fair event!
Let's Play "Not Work" in a Utopian High-Tech Enterprise:
History of the World Fair
What if we could accelerate the global transition towards a more sustainable "circular" economy with a global world fair event?
The Challenge: A Global Green New Deal
Our World is in Crisis: Global Climate Change, Resource Depletion, Species Extinction and Growing Inequalities are just some of the challenges confronting us today as a species: "We have ten years to radically transform our global economy into one that is more sustainable, or else." [1] This is what we know so far: under the current global-economic-system we have successfully wiped out over 60% of all wild-life on Earth in the last forty years. [2] - Let that sink in for a moment: under the current global-economic system we have successfully wiped out over 60% of all wild-life on Earth in just the last forty years. [3]
I don't know about you, but I'm freaking out! Yes. The debate is over - The Sixth-Mass Extinction is upon us - now the big question is "can we do something about it?" [4]
Reporting on the reality of climate change is hard. Living life as if nothing has changed once this lesson is learned is even harder. If we are willing to take science seriously, then we must begin to act as global citizens committing ourselves on every level towards the total redesign of just about everything the modern economy has to offer. This is a daunting challenge and it seems many of us are asking the same questions: "How are we going to radically transform the global economy without a bloody revolution? How are we going to actively engage every person alive today in the urgency of this moment? What are we going to do?"
The scope and vision needed to solve these problems seem insurmountable, yet, as reality has it written in its very code - if we can conceive of a plan of action, we can make it happen:
For over 150 years, The World Fair has awed and inspired an anticipating public. Since it's inception in 1791, The World Fair has been a conduit introducing all the wonders of invention the Industrial Revolution has had to offer. From the steam engine to mass assembly lines, The World Fair gave us a glimpse of the world of tomorrow, today. [5]
It is now our time to set into motion the new co-creative chain-reaction of The Forth Industrial Revolution: [6]
All over the world people are becoming more attuned to the challenges confronting us today - side effects directly linked to our Industrial Revolution. We are becoming deeply concerned about where everything we create goes when we're done with it. We are concerned about our children, and the world they are to inherit. We think about supply-chains, and sustainable industrial feed-stocks. We think about building robots to mine landfills, to plant trees, and to reseed coral reefs. We think about micro-grids and cleaning up river's. We think of remediating soil and restoring habitat loss in super-fund sites. We think about relocating the means of production to the point of consumption. We think about vertical farming and inner-city food security. We dream of creating peace on Earth and spreading good will towards all the living. Why? Because it makes evolutionary sense for us to do so.
Yes. Our world is in crisis - It is paramount that all mankind joins in on this quest towards the total redesign of just about everything this modern economy has to offer. We understand the fear many of us hold when the thought of economic change enters the arena of everyday living. It is unfortunate that many of us are unable to financially meet an advancing world with confidence. We want you to know that you will not be left behind.
Circular Cities 2030 will set the stage for a Global World Fair Event that will happen simultaneously in every city around the world. Our inspiration is the adaptation of our built environment to better suite our living world. No one solution will be the silver bullet. Our goal is to ignite and inspire a comprehensive-collaborative plan of action that is both robust and open to change, and as investors and innovators unite with unified purpose we will set into motion a more equitable game. [7]
This website is designed for the exploration of ideas. It is a work in progress and is therefore constantly evolving. This website is dedicated to the Sciences: to the artists & engineers engaging reality - Let's take a vision quest in design revolution:
From Linear to Circular Cities
This poster "Circular Cities - Restorative and Regenerative by Design" was designed in collaboration with Smart City Expo & Circular Summit. It is a great visual introduction to these ideas we are about to explore:
Sources: Cities in the Circular Economy: An Initial Exploration [8]
What is a Circular city?
"A Circular City seeks to regenerate prosperity, increase livability, while aiming to decouple the creation of value from the consumption of finite resources."
Circular Cities are The Applied Logistics of a Circular Economy
The Goal: closing the loop
The Circular City Challenge is based on three principles:
- Regenerate Natural Systems
- Design out Waste and Pollution
- Keep Products, Components, and Materials in use at their highest value
Co-Creative:
As cities become more circular they will become more unique, evolving into bio-regions of Industry & Trade, from this creativity will respond with spontaneous action as the access points to the means of production become more localized.
A circular economy is by nature an inclusive economy. It is both restorative and regenerative by design. Our objective is the total redesign of everything the modern economy has to offer in an effort to re-stabilize Earth's ecosystems, while creating a world of abundance for all Earth citizens.
Resources: [8]
Circular Economy in Cities: is a suite of online resources which provide a reference point for policy makers.
The Collaboration
United Nations (SDG's) Sustainable development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 Global Goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 for the year 2030.
The SDGs are part of Resolution 70/1 of the United Nations General Assembly
Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Ending Poverty: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
- Ending Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
- Good Health & Well Being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
- Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
- Gender Equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all
- Clean Water & Sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
- Affordable & Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
- Decent Work & Economic Growth: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
- Reduce Inequality: Reduce inequality within and among countries
- Sustainable Cities & Communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
- Responsible Consumption & Production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
- Life Below Water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
- Life on Land: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
- Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
- Partnerships for the Goals: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
We have a lot of work to do!
Let's Make this Transition Fun!
Circular Economy 2030
A circular economy is an industrial system that extends beyond the current take-make-waste extractive industrial model, a circular economy aims to redefine growth, focusing on positive society-wide benefits. It entails actively decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources, and designing waste out of systems.
Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources, the circular model builds economic, natural, and social capital. A Circular Economy simplifies resource management, in that it is all about doing more with less. It is about designing reality through the total redesign of the goods and services we are all dependent on.
How Can We Achieve the Impossible?
Let's reiterate: We have just ten years to radically transform our global economy into one that is more sustainable, or else.
A new co-creative narrative is emerging setting the stage for new ideas and events to evolve.
We are drawn towards the mission statements of circular economy operatives (CEO's) that tend to think dynamically about systems change, repair, and recovery, and as swarm intelligence/emergent behavior suggests, one of the main reasons why the Circular Economy is spreading as fast as it is, is because it makes evolutionary sense:
This is our survival of the fittest moment.
Our goal as investors and innovators united is to apply and embed circular economy principles into the fabric of every day life. We are committed to finding robust solutions for the UN Sustainable Development Goals and towards applying them on the local - Bio-Regional landscapes of our cities and towns.
To Be Continued:
References/Resources:
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Cradle to Cradle
Green New Deal
It is proposed that once enacted, the Circular Economy paired with The Green New Deal could generate more then 4.5 trillion in new economic output by 2030
"The Green New Deal works towards the total overhaul of our decaying fossil fuel economy into a new, green economy that is environmentally sustainable, economically secure and socially just. "
"The Green New Deal starts with transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2030. This is a ambitious goal. It requires an immediate end to all investments, both public and private, in fossil fuels (including natural gas) and related infrastructure. "
By investing in social entrepreneurs whose mission statements transform the current linear take-make-waste economy - into a more circular economy, The Green New Deal's goal is to transform the US economy into one that is more resilient and regenerative by design.
The European Commission adopted an action plan in 2015 to help accelerate Europe's transition towards a circular economy, boost global competitiveness, promote sustainable economic growth and generate new jobs.
The action plan sets out 54 measures to "close the loop" of product life-cycles: from production and consumption to waste management and the market for secondary raw materials. It also identifies five priority sectors to speed up the transition along their value chain (plastics, food waste, critical raw materials, construction and demolition, biomass and bio-based materials). It puts a strong emphasis on building strong foundation on which investments and innovation can thrive.
Resources:
Circular City Governance: An explorative research study into current barriers and governance practices in circular city transitions across Europe
To Be Continued:
Seattle /G\ 2030
Ground zero
Why Seattle? Why Georgetown? And what's with the /G\?
It would be easy to say while proposing this idea that "Seattle has become a Hot-Bed of Innovation" when all around us are the tell-tale signs of the new world collapsing the old. The struggle between what once was and what wants to be is in flux. To help guide us along this journey towards re-imagining our lives in this built environment lets take a moment to reflect upon one of the greatest mission statements of mankind:
“Make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.” ~Love Bucky
It's fun to think of the World Fair as the World Game
In Reality - It's all about place: in reference to myself, Seattle is my home and Georgetown is my hood. I've grown up in South Seattle and I have lived and worked in Georgetown for many-many years. This is where my work should begin - because when it comes to Think Globally/Act Locally its all about finding your place at home base.
It's funny, creatively speaking, I have been dreaming/writing/researching "Circular Cities" for most of my life - (long story/nothing published) - and the creative force behind Circular Cities has been a thought experiment on human habitat that has evolved over time into something incredible, that once I began to learn more about the Circular Economy these thoughts surrounding "Circular Cities" found their purpose: We are going to redesign everything.
See image below - I live where the blue dot is:
/G\
As you can see, my home /G\ is surrounded by industry perfectly designed to take advantage of the Duwamish River, Seattle's only working river. Historically, the Dumwamish Valley was an estuary - a flood plain. In the age of Climate Change and resulting Sea-Level rise this area the Duwamish Valley is one of Seattle's most vulnerable areas to the effects of Climate Change and other environmental events.
One of the biggest challenges we face today as a city is the restoration of these landscapes through the act of de-industrialization and remediation. This is a highly-politically-charged topic.
It's fun to think of the World Fair as a World Game:
Parks over Ports - Transforming Trade Routes into Tourist Traps.
On a personal note:
I have been dreaming of a school that does not yet exist - (An Invisible College) - it has been a character in a story that I have been in the process of writing for many-many years - (again long story/nothing published) - and when I found the Seattle campus for "Circular Cities" to be a perfect triangle /G\ I knew I was in the right place.
In fact, I think the proposed campus for Georgetown /G\ to be the perfect place in geographical space to begin this game Circular Cities 2030:
Georgetown: Health & Industry | A New School Proposal
Again, it's all about place!
To be continued:
The World in Transition
Circular New york
The first and biggest circular economy festival in the US
Circular City Week New York will return in March 2020. Stay turned for updates and reach out if you can to be involved.
To Be Continued:
Circular Amsterdam
Developing the Roadmap for the First Circular City:
Circular Cities: Amsterdam Scans the Future - Eurocities 2019
To Be Continued:
Circular France
The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions (also known as expos or world expos) falling under the jurisdiction of the Convention Relating to International Exhibitions.
The French Prime Minister recently unveiled the country's Circular Economy roadmap:
Circular Cities 2030
To Be Continued:
Circular London
London's Plan to be a Circular City:
UCL Circular Cities Research HUB
The first of its kind internationally, it is an interdisciplinary, virtual network of scholars working on all aspects of Circular Cities. The hub draws on existing academic and practitioner expertise.
It is also an interface between academics and key urban stakeholders, enabling research to impact directly on the governing, management, design and development of cities.
To Be Continued:
circular Italy
The Italian government has published a strategic paper on the development of a circular economy in Italy, with a supporting manifesto signed by leading businesses.
ENEL Position Paper:
Cities of Tomorrow: Circular Cities
To Be Continued:
