Cities of the Future

 During our last week of class, we had to talk about different issues of the environment from a book, Plan B. This book discussed different issues in our modern time, everything from sustainable resources to growing enough food for our exponentially growing population. One of the topics that really interest me talked about planning cities in the future. Being an engineer, this was right up my alley. To be honest, this was the one topic that I wished I had recieved during the first day when we had been randomly assigned topics The group talked about everything that is being done in cities to make them environmentally friendly. From bike racks to taxing people that drive into populated cities. Seeing this I thought of other things that could be done. The group that I was with did renewable resources. From solar to geothermal, the things that can be implemted is staggering. Along with these things, adding renewable resources in every way possible would greatly improve cities. Moreover, one of the pictures that they showed was one of massive floating cities, powered by every renewable resource, having grown there own food and being completely self-sustainable. One of the things that I thought that could greatly improve cities was to get away from the sprawling developments and building up instead of out. As we saw in the downtown Fort Myers trip, the city was starting to build up, bringing more people to the area. More people in the area means more business, meaning more jobs, and a successful city. My view came full circle after seeing this presentation, and visiting downtown Ft. Myers. The presentation was what experts thought and seeing it being practiced in downtown Ft. Myers. For once in my college career, things that are talked about and theorized in the classroom were visible in real life, the feeling was humbling to see it.