My Dream City

When I think of where I want to settle down, I envision acreage and somewhere miles outside a big city. I prefer the country, rural life, slow living. I love the hustle and bustle of cities but find they’re best to reside temporarily. Perhaps I’m just accustomed to Gulf living, with retirees and a sweet bay breeze, or way out East where gunshots are as frequent as the screeching of city squirrels. I love people though and out in the country can feel lonely.

I envision changed worlds, where convenience and commodity are reasonable and innate, accessible at our fingertips because we placed and know how to reach them. Not in the ways of next day delivery and walking into a grocery store with all you need, but with accessibility and connection. Regardless of how big our desires are, they should never come at the harm of another person. Our actions do have consequences and there are many interconnected webs. I wish the awareness of our connectivies on everyone.

I think of fresh, running water, lush greenery, movement and the breeze. Spaces where you can simply be, no need to consume to have a place, where drums and voices fill carless streets, and each individual fulfills personal and collective responsibilities. I envision a safe place for every being to sleep, warm and shared meals multiple times a day, clarity on where we each stand and where we’re going.

Shared skills and hobbies, learning and brilliance shine, closed doors open warmly upon a knock, a world where we feel as comfortable in our neighbor’s home as we do our own (sometimes, even moreso.) A world where I am outside processing Sansevieria for cordage and my neighbor greets me from across the street with curiousity, I explain to her what I’m doing, she wants to show her husband, and I walk into their warm home, I give them my creation and leave with freshly picked lettuce and a promise of sharing my knowledge upon more practice. I want a world that’s naturally warm, one we can trust each other and our neighbors, where we value all forms of life, from ant to ancient pine.

I dream of a city with composting stations in every neighborhood, no water-wasting toilets (aka facilities that handle human and pet wastes efficiently), community gardens and edible streets, groups comprised of all ages maintaining shared spaces! A place where elders and children are revered and we recognize what we owe each other, the instrinsic value of each body and habitat.

Here’s an incomplete, ever-changing checklist

• community! spaces to make and hold it!
• adequate waste facilities! compost, repurposing, transforming!
• greenery! food everywhere! pretty flowers! leafy greens! shade! intact and functioning ecosystems benefit us all!
• walkable! moveable! by canal, train, bike! public transport!
• Access to food, shelter, water, health care (physical, social, emotional) for EVERYONE! if you are alive and breathing, then you deserve a space to live safely.
• no money, no hustle and bustle, no grind culture
• acknowledges ancestral lands and puts them back into the hands of those who understand stewardship and respect. women led.

We need places to learn without judgment and consequence, move knowing our bodies are how we perceive this reality, and share at no financial cost. Sacred places, ones that are educational, comfy and free, fun, delicious, the list is endless. A cafe that functions as a library, thrift store, hangout/connection spot, and serves delicious foods?? And at night turns into a live music venue, hosts late night classes, and whatever else you could possibly imagine. We’ve no need for rigid standards or binaries, everything is wobbling and shifting, the spaces we create should reflect that. We should see ourselves in our city, streets, each other.

We live in tumultous times but are being given opportunities to repair and rebuild. The world we want is at our fingertips, although we must reach and grab for it, and place each piece carefully. We lay foundations and plant seeds, to come back years later and harvest sweet fruits. Reaping what we sow, we must sow and put every bit of effort that we have into restoring these lands and ecosystems, repair our demeaning relationships with each other, continue to hope, love, and fight. Our planet needs us, and our futures are directly tied to actions of the present.

May this dream become reality, and every city model more regenerative and functional ways of living. May water be treasured for the life-giving source that it is, may she flow clearly and freely. Fulfill your role, think about what you owe those you love, yourself, this planet. Think about the waste you create and how you can change that. As futile as every small action seems, we must know that balance will be restored and we will all feel as free as we know we are.