An Example of How to Shape the Future
March 15th, 2008
Brasilia, the capitol of Brazil, represents an example of what humanity must do in this early part of the 21st century. In my last column, I discussed the history of this great city and the fact that it was created in the late 1950s to be “the capitol of the third millennium†and that it was built literally in the middle of Brazil hundreds of miles from the nearest city. In other words the eyes of the visionaries who built the city were completely focused on the future. What should a capitol of the future look like? How should it be laid out? How can future governmental needs and functionality be anticipated and planned for?
It is this type of thinking on a grand scale that is needed now more than ever as humanity approaches 7 billion in number, the planet is warming, water scarcity is growing and we have entered our global stage of evolution. Forward thinking these days seems to come primarily from innovative, fast moving, companies in the private sector. National leaders seem increasingly to be following their citizens rather than leading them. There seems to be a reliance on past processes as ways to confront the future. There is a growing number of people who are now realizing that many of the ‘old ways of doing things’ have run their course and that new approaches are essential for facing the issues. This is, to be sure, one of the forces fueling the success of Barack Obama in the current American presidential race.
Brasilia was initially built 1957-60 and has been developed in an on-going way ever since. Standing in front of the Congress building in 2008, I was struck by how futuristic it felt, 50 years after its construction. That is what can happen when there is a visionary directive to create a capitol city for the next millennium. Forget the past, look to the future and think about the needs of humanity and how it can best function to manage the affairs of the country. Now take that same sentence and substitute the word planet for the word country. That is where we are as we enter the Shift Age.
Standing in front of the Congress building I was struck by something else. As a regular visitor to Washington D.C., I have been greatly depressed by how it has become a fortress city since 9/11/2001. I remember how, as a high school student I walked up the steps of the Capitol and walked the corridors to my Senator’s office, or how I could take a public tour of the White House. I think there are more concrete barricades, metal detectors and guard houses than in any other capitol in the world. The U.S., simply put, is a target country of irrational, hateful religious zealots ( I think some are housed there as well).
In front of the Congress building in Brasilia, there was one guard, smoking a cigarette and one low tech metal detector. The tour I went on was comprised of four people and we walked onto the floor of the Senate, the floor of the Chamber of Deputies and sat in the seats. Both chambers were equipped with laptops and the latest technologies. We walked up and down the corridors and all was open. There were skylights under which was dense rain forest vegetation, providing a dense oxygenated feeling to the air amidst the bureaucratic work place. It was open to the people. It was open to the sun, it was open. I only hope that this might be what capitols of the future can be.
As a futurist, I think a lot about where the world is going in the next 20 years. It is clear that the BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — will be the dominant areas of economic growth and influence in the decades ahead. While the EU, the U.S. and Japan will all continue to be major economies and political forces, we are entering the new global era of humanity. Where will the new global capitol be? Though Beijing may have something to say about it, and Berlin is certainly a worthy candidate that stands for human history. Brasilia stands open, facing the future.
March 15th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Interesting point of view and relevant in many ways beyond governments. Corporations are increasingly closed and while firewalls are being removed from content, they are being erected around corporations. A more open society is the future and those who fail to embrace this reality will be left in the past.
March 15th, 2008 at 10:18 am
There are several architectural wonders that yet remain unacknowledged by most of modern civilisation. Several cities that were built centuries ago were laid out and designed with such adroit that is not found with even in the designs of this date.
March 15th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Jack – I agree with you completely. Walls have gone up in the fear based environment of the past seven years. Walls go up to protect the existing structures but they invevitably come tumbling down in the face of vast historical change.
David
March 15th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Michael-
I agree. What comes to mind for me are the great cities of the Mayan civilization.
David
March 17th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I wonder how this openess relates to the public. Can
kids walk safely to and from school? Can women walk
safely alone after dark? Is it safe to stroll the parks?
When you were in high school wars were the means to
settle national conflicts. Wars have been obsoleted by
terror which every developed and developing nation, just
about faces. While Brasilia parliament as you describe it is extra ordinary, I think the security in Washington
is now more or less the norm. That’s a real shift from
our youth, and one that may not unshift for a long time,
if ever.
March 18th, 2008 at 4:42 am
unfortunately bric countries seem to have no better understanding of the future than the earlier “western” ones…
innovation, new thinking, an expanded understanding of what it means to be a human being and how to live on the planet, will be thought forms that arise independent of geographical location
these are arising as the by-product of global awareness, interconnectivity, and having a “we” that includes everybody
i have been thinking a lot lately about how change can happen, and have come to the conclusion that old minds simply have to die off, they are not capable of creating a new system, whether political or economic
if one can ignore the status quo, there is hope
another very curious thing… mystics and psychics have known the current dynamics were coming for thirty years…. futurists, maybe for twenty… leading edge analysts, maybe ten…. and even today, the entrenched minds that we think of as our business and political heroes still haven’t figured it out
nothing is more blinding than vested interests combined with an egoic identity built upon an existing system. in order to change, such people have to effectively suicide their entire self-concept, a very rare human ability
July 31st, 2008 at 8:32 pm
[…] in the year I wrote several columns about Brazil and how it will be one of the countries leading the world with economic growth, vision and […]
August 12th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Unfortunately, populist politicians and DF governors alike allowed for the pop up of so called “satellite cities” (read: slums; easily spotted in Google Earth) around Brasilia, where the poor were forced to move and live. Bureaucrat salaries are the top – top in Brazil (can reach 10-20X minimum wage) and thus make it the city in Brazil with the highest cost of living, from food to raw services and housing prices…
Now, the same social problems that plague the Brazilian nation can be seen mirrored in its capital. The so called “Plano Piloto” has now been completely overturned.
Most Brazilians today look at Brasilia – and especially the Congress – with “suspicion” to say the least… just like many Americans gaze at Washington, albeit less hysterically.
Greetings