… and you vill be happy. Vait, Why Are You Being Happy Vithout Us?
There is one BIG problem with 15 minute cities. It is, that many people would probably really like such a living arrangement.
As long as there wasn't the overlord, everything being watched by big brother, and being confined to your little block, i probably would like it. I really do not like using a car. I really do not like that all the green space gets paved over for parking lots. So much about a 15 minute city sounds great.
So, what if we made our own 10 minute cities?
Cities are bad places for humans
People in cities live lonely lives, surrounded by people. Most people do not know their neighbors. Or worse, really dislike their neighbors. There is no connection, and there is little reason to get connected.
There is so much structure and not enough nature to balance it. Humans really need nature or they start going insane. "Get out and touch grass".
There is no support structure, except for heartless bureaucratic systems. In a small community, everyone knows the lay-a-bouts, and the hard workers. It is easy to know if you are supporting someone who just needs a little help, and supporting someone, who will just need more supporting. In the city, when you go to social services, you are just a number. And what they have in the computer on you is god. Even if it is completely wrong, the person behind the desk believes it over you. Even to the point of "our computer says you are dead."
Although there is, usually, more opportunity for employment in the cities, it comes at the cost of not being able to grow your own food. And this is the big trap. You are stuck working in order to eat.
When the factory left, the town collapsed
Have you heard of medium sized towns where Wallymart decided to build a store? Not only did Wallymart decide to build outside the city center, disrupting the flow of traffic, especially foot traffic in downtown. And Wallymart puts all the small grocery stores out of business. And THEN Wallymart shuts down this store, leaving the medium sized town without any source of food.
This kind of thing has also happened when THE factory shut down. Similarly when the mine shut down. The source of income for the town just left. And so, clientele for the service economy dried up. And the town dried up.
The factory was the town. But, the owners of the factory (corporation) had no concern for the town, and then used them for what they could get, and then discarded them.
Would it be better if the town owned the factory? The problem heretofore, is that the town was usually not cohesive enough to be an owner.
What if the factory owned the town? Well, there have been a few of these. Where the factory built a town for their employees to live in. All kinds of problems arise, like people selling their houses, and so the company doesn't have space for their workers anymore. (or not being able to sell their houses, so they had no equity in what they maintained)
The problem is the management
The idea of a 15 minute city has many good aspects, the problem is the management.
The management has to care for the town, and is in alignment with their life direction/growth. Mr. Clown (pictured above) wants complete control over the people and their production. People not functioning exactly how they expect is terrifying to these mother WEFers.
The way that big brother manages people causes a lot of stress. So, even if they do a good job, their management style is achieves poor results.
However, letting the town have a management, and the factory have a management, and letting the people do whatever usually ends up a real mess. The town, the business and the people need to be all on the same page. They need to share the same goals / be going in the same direction. And they all need to recognize that they are all in this together.
So, if we were forming an intentional community, we would not be that different from the 15 minute cities. Except for some EXTREMELY IMPORTANT differences. The people need to decide, and all be on board, with the direction they are choosing to go. The town, the company and the people need to be as one. (and this can be extremely difficult with our current models. The town's people are the board? above the CEO, which is above the workers, which are the town's people?)
But this mess is so much better than the CEO being appointed by some mother WEFer group that has no care for the people it is ruling. In fact, they seem to want 90% of the population to just die. That is not the kind of management structure i want to be in. "I think my boss is out to get me. Oh that is just conspiracy thinking… No, you are right, he is out to off you. The last guy lasted two weeks. His ashes are in that urn over there."
In the future, your most important decision will be which community you join. There are going to be 10s of thousands of communities and they are all going to try to solve this management issue, in different ways. Find the group of people that think similarly to you. That you get along with. Think, can i work with these people when times get hard?
Other than that, things will be very similar to 15 minute cities open air prisons. Wait, strike that, they will be similar to Amish communities who have been working on this for much longer.