A World Fair Event
Let's Play "Not Work" in a Utopian High-Tech Enterprise
History of the World Fair
The Thought Experiment:
What if we could accelerate the global transition towards a more sustainable "circular economy" through a global world fair event?
The Challenge: A Global Green New Deal [0]
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. The science is in, according to the 2018 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Report "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]
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 a lesson is learned is even harder. If we are willing to take the sciences 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 - Are you ready to 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]
so 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
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.
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
Get involved
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
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 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, the 2030 Agenda.
Transforming our world:
The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
- 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
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:
Cities in Transition
Climate change & the clean energy rev0lution
What is Anthropomorphic Climate Change?
One of the saddest truths I've come to learn is that America & the world lost one of it's clean energy options merely because alcohol (ethanol) got us drunk. We lost HEMP as an industrial feed-stock for the same reason.
Tragically, 150 years of burning Fossil Fuel has created the perfect storm when paired with Hydro Power:
We now know that from damming the northern rivers we have as a result depleted our forests of their natural nitrogen boosts through the destruction of salmon runs & habitat.
If we thought the fires were bad last year, they are only going to get worse. Our northern forests are dry & severely nitrogen deficient. This is a hard truth we are now facing.
Our global energy transition is one of the biggest challenges we face today.
The Challenge: Finding Solutions
Getting beyond the Meter
What is a Micro-Grid?
A Micro-Grid is a localized group of electricity sources and sinks (loads). They typically operate connected to and synchronous with the traditional centralized grid (macrogrid). Our goal towards localized solutions are to disconnect and maintain operation autonomously.
In the age of Climate Change our goal is to promote & develop a diverse micro-grid of sources/solutions, to maintain a local resiliency in the advent of sever weather and/or other natural disaster & resulting outages.
Research:
Automotive Fuel History: Why Gasoline Beat Alcohol
To Be Continued:
Climate Change & The built environment
The Impact of Climate on Cities
In the age of Climate Change & resulting sea level rise every city, town and community is one perfect storm away from having to be rebuilt. This is as true today as it was yesterday.
The biggest challenges our cities face today is how complex our social order has become. It is easy to say we are going to redesign everything but, what exactly does that mean?
Every new process introduced, every new disruptive innovation will have a ripple effect throughout the entirety of our current social order and resulting built environment. As new technologies are unveiled, older technologies will go the way of the dinosaur. It is up to us as artists & engineers to design new systems that are inclusive and open to change.
Circular Cities 2030, as a Global World Fair Event, gives us the time-line for applying circular economy changes into the local environment of our cities & towns. As a date, 2030 is not so-far-off into the future that we loose sight of our goals, while it is close enough to the now that as active participants we will get to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
It's time for us all to get involved!
References:
The Impact of Climate on Cities
To Be Continued:
Climate change & Life on Earth
What is the Sixth-Mass Extinction?
As we have come to learn, under the current Global Economic System we have successfully wiped out over 60% of all wildlife on Earth in just the last forty years:
"This ongoing extinction of species coincides with the present Holocene epoch (approx. 11,700 years), and is mainly a result of human activity."
The biggest challenge we have as a species is the restoration of our home environment - Planet Earth.
I like to think of the Circular Economy when applied to our built environment as the foundation on which we will cultivate our ability as a species to respond to this extinction event with the assertion that our the mission "to redesign everything" is guided by the inspiration towards Healing Earth by Design.
We have a lot of work to do!
To Be Continued:
social enterprise
People. Planet. Profit.
Finance in a Circular Economy:
Social Entrepreneurship is the use of start-up companies and other entrepreneurs to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a variety of organizations with different sizes, aims, and beliefs. Social entrepreneurs are either non-profits or blend for-profit goals with generating a positive "return to society" and therefore use different metrics. Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural, and environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care and community development.
Source: Wikipedia
A new age of Finance is upon us:
To Be Continued
Industry 4.0 | Redefining the grid
What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution:
"The Fourth Industrial Revolution is the fourth major industrial era since the initial Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres, collectively referred to as cyber-physical systems.
Everything is going to change!
Sources: Ideas to build on
On-Demand Manufacturing
Designing Reality: How to Survive & Thrive in the Third Digital Revolition - Drawing on the history of digitization and exploring the frontiers of research, Designing Reality outlines a vision for a future radically transformed by digital manufacturing - FAB LAB
From Global to Local: The Making of Things and the End of Globalization: For the past thirty years or more, the global economy has been run based on three big assumptions: globalization will continue to increase; trade is the route to growth and development; and economic power is moving from West to East. But what if all these are wrong?
To Be Continued
AI & the circular economy
Two emerging mega-trends:
"Artificial intelligence (AI) can play an important role in enabling this systemic shift. AI is a subset of the technologies enabling the emergent ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ era, and deals with models and systems which perform functions generally associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning and learning. AI can complement people’s skills and expand their capabilities. It allows humans to learn faster from feedback, deal more effectively with complexity, and make better sense of abundant data. A growing number of initiatives are exploring how AI can create new opportunities to address some of the world’s most important challenges".
Source: Google Cloud
To Be Continued
Transportation & Logistics
The Future of Transportation in our urban areas and city centers will be Electric, Autonomous & Shared.
Wait? What happened to my personal vehicle?
Gone are the days when we will be required to transport thousands of pounds of resources just to get us from here to there on a whim.
To Be Continued
Inner City Food Security & Urban Agriculture
Feeding the World in the 21st Century: Urban agriculture, urban farming, or urban gardening is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around urban areas. Urban agriculture can also involve animal husbandry, aquaculture, agroforestry, urban beekeeping, and horticulture. Steps Local Communities can take towards localizing food production:
- allow urban farms and community gardens throughout our cities.
- Allow residents to sell food grown on their property.
- Recognize farmers markets and allow them to flourish where ever there is public demand.
- Allow dedicated food production in rooftop greenhouses.
Vertical Farming:
To Be Continued
Agriculture & Sustainable Industrial Feed-stocks
What are Circular Sourced Solutions (CSS) for Industrial Fees-Stocks:
A Sustainable Industrial Feed-Stock is one defined as a renewable, biological material that can be used directly as a fuel, converted to other forms of fuel or energy.
Biomass Feed-Stocks are plant and/or algal (other) organic materials used to derive fuels like ethanol, butanol, biodiesel.
One of the key components of a sustainable feed-stock is its sourcing. We need local solutions to offset our global footprints. HEMP is such a resource.
To Be Continued
On demand Manufacturing
To Be Continued:
de-industrialization
To Be Continued
Creative commons
To Be Continued
Seattle /G\ 2030
Ground zero
Why Seattle? Why Georgetown? And what's with the /G\?
It would be easy for me to say 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 all around us. 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
Maybe the World Fair is the World Game?
In Reality - It's all about place: in reference to myself, Seattle is my home and Georgetown is my hood. Growing up in South Seattle, I have lived and worked in Georgetown for many-many years. This is where my work should begin - because 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 forces behind Circular Cities have been a thought experiment on human habitat that has evolved over time into something incredible and 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. 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. Historically, the Dumwamish Valley was an estuary - a flood plain.
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. To be continued
On a personal note:
I too 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 years -(again long story/nothing published)- and when I found the campus for Circular Seattle to be a perfect triangle I knew I was in the right place.
In fact, I think the proposed campus for Georgetown /G\ is 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:
