Week Two: Theme Exploration

This week we further explored the 4 themes for the project: URBAN, SUBURBAN, REGIONAL and VIRTUAL scenarios. Below are a few of the most interesting ideas that were discussed throughout the tutorials:

URBAN

Our group explored urban scenarios within the site of Queen St in the Brisbane CBD. The given scenario is that there is a congestion charge for vehicles passing through the CBD area. This would obviously drastically reduce traffic and so there will be little cars entering the CBD area. We looked at the need for other means of transport, such as bicycles, as well as the need for a more efficient public transport system which would connect the CBD with the outer suburbs. This would have to be much more frequent than the current system and would require some form of transformation or re-imagining.
With the less amount of cars, there will be less need for car parks and road space, so these areas could be reclaimed for other uses, such as alternative forms of transport and greenspace. Such scenarios to explian these would be for 'greenies' to take over or for sustainability to be forced on governments to employ such systems.

SUBURBAN:

In the suburban theme exploration process we looked at the possibilities for the retail spaces within Paddington. People still enjoy the experience of going out and being in the 'retail atmosphere', however it is just more convienant and often cheaper to buy online. As all products in the future scenario can be bought online, the retail spaces become useful for other things.  I believe these spaces would be used for community purposes  - as social hubs for opportunities for interaction and learning. Even thouhg products can be bought online, 'fast food' and restaurants will probably not suffer as much, as people would still go there for the experience.

REGIONAL:

For the regional theme, we dicussed ideas about self-sufficiency. Different cycles that could exist within such a remote and transient community. We also though about an aging population world, where the community would sustain themselves (live longer) by growing and harvesting organs, as they may have this technology in the future. Within an againg population community there would be much different dynamics exisiting within families and the wider community. The retirement age would probably get older, as the workers will be needed. The age gap between parents and kids may also get bigger as people have longer to live, and therefore will be able to see their children grow up. Alternatively, the age gap between parents and children may get smaller, as there is more pressure to decrease the median age and so another baby boom may occur.

VIRTUAL:

Our main ideas surrounding a virtual world came from movies such as "Inception" and "Avatar", where a mind exists in one boday, but controls another being in another world. Possible scenarios for this we came up with were that earth becomes unlivable, due to plague or deathly diseases, forcing people to live underground or sealed in containers somewhere. The virtual body can then exist on the earth while the mind controls it. These 'virtual beings' could be robots or computer generated in a program that all of society is connected to.

I found these dicussions to be eye-opening and very interesting. I am leaning towards going with the Urban theme group for next week as I can see the most intriguing possibilities coming from that scenario and I think it will be interesting to explore what such a major component of our city will be like in 20-50 years time.