What does it mean to reinvent local?

Build communities

where people enjoy

living connected lives

within walking distance

OK, give me some examples

Our Children

Today we isolate our children as early as age six weeks in daycare, then keep them on segregated school campuses until they are 18.

During those formative years, they lack exposure and interaction with the adult role models from whom children learn to become adults.

Let us build villages where adults live, work, shop & play locally; villages with central plazas that have school classrooms built on those plazas.

If we do that, and their education is relevant, students interacting every day with educated adults provides the role models from which they learn.

Our Jobs

Today, most working adults must get in their cars or mass transit and leave their community. This is not normal, but it's how we structure our world.

They travel long distances to jobs that separate them from family, friends & the supportive community that relieved the pressures on families. 

Local economies thrive by trading with the outside world. If 20% of businesses sell local-to-global, that income is then spent supporting local business.

Millions of businesses can relocate anywhere there is ultra-fast fibre-optic broadband. They can chose where to locate based on quality of life.

It is this new shift in technology that restores the development pattern of the country towns and villages; those wonderful places to enjoy life.

Our Economy

Today we find that small to medium enterprises find it very difficult to secure financing and capital.

The money seems to be locked up in a huge casino, making it much harder for local wealth creation to thrive. 

When building a town from scratch, economies of scale enable a portion of cost savings to go into a local fund.

This provides financing, capital and expertise to local business that enables them to create local common wealth.

Our Health

Today we find an obsessive focus on illness with far less attention to what keeps people healthy and enjoying life.

The best advice your doctor gives you: Eat better, get plenty of exercise, get out of your car, take a walk, be in Nature.

As the planet grows to 9 billion people, food will become an issue. It is prudent to invest in an affordable local food supply.

But it is more than planning for a scarce future. Wonderful food in a convivial atmosphere is part of the enjoyment of a good life.

Our Elders

Today we segregate our elders in retirement homes, cut off from their community, living in an isolated place patiently waiting to die.

We do this when they stop driving. We do this because we have no place for them. We do it to our seniors, but we don't want it done to us.

Eldership is how culture is passed from old to young. Elders play an essential role in complete communities. Elders want to remain vital.

When a new greenfield community is designed, it can easily be designed to include elders, especially if its urban core is car-free and walkable.

Our Environment

Today, most of us seem to have cut ourselves off from Nature; we see Nature from the car or in a video.

On the larger scale, it seems as if our global industries and businesses have declared a War on Nature.

This of course is not smart, because humans are a part of Nature. We need Nature to survive. Nature does not need us.

Many of the answers to global environmental threats are local answers.

Build greenfield communities that identify the toxic practices - and then opt out.

The biggest opt-out is to stop driving on a day-to-day basis.

Eliminate the need to drive by building all daily destinations within walking distance.

It's a simple question:

How do we want to live?

The photo below offers a choice.

We can live as commuters & consumers.

Or we can enjoy a good life lived locally.

To do this we need a language of what works.

We need examples to visit; those

wonderful places people love.

We then need to understand what has changed to make it possible  

The Internet and its converging technologies change everything,

including how we design communities.

First the net was email

then social networking & ecommerce.

Next is the internet of things, 3D printing.

These technologies make global markets local.

But as humans, we still need face-to-face.

Social networks are not enough,

we need still need real society.

To get there requires a new development pattern based on a very old one:

It is called the 21st C. Market Town where

its economy is based on fibre-optic broadband

not the ancient economy of surrounding farms

 And it is about restoring balance to life

 It begins by focusing on Wealth Creation. This is the first point of difference from a conventional development

Instead of a focus on selling houses, attract Head-of-Household Jobs.

If you want to read more about the creation of a Local Economy, Click Here.

The purpose of the self-supporting local economy to enable people to enjoy a good life...

A good life is understood as the social pursuits of

Conviviality

Citizenship

Artistic, Intellectual & Spiritual Growth

 For each of these social pursuits, capital investment is made in infrastructure,

Infrastructure are the places that help make those things happen.