Sustainable Future Self-sufficient towns?
This is a technology-maximized future. However, in the book "This Civilisation is Finished: Conversations on the end of Empire - and what lies beyond" we find that there are 3 likely near-term endgames for society
(1) This civilisation could collapse utterly and terminally, as a result of climatic instability (leading for instance to catastrophic food short- ages as a probable mechanism of collapse), or possibly sooner than that, through nuclear war, pandemic, or financial collapse leading to mass civil breakdown. Any of these are likely to be precipitated in part by ecological/climate instability, as Darfur and Syria were. Or
(2) This civilisation (we) will manage to seed a future successor-civil- isation(s), as this one collapses. Or
(3) This civilisation will somehow manage to transform itself delib- erately, radically and rapidly, in an unprecedented manner, in time to avert collapse.
The second option basically amounts to designing future towns that are self-sufficient based on local production and consumption, perhaps with trading skills with nearby towns. The towns could not rely on any form of support they could not maintain. This includes virtually all electronics.
It would be interesting to construct "guidelines" for structuring a self-sustaining town.
For example, constructing a mechanical windmill that pumps water to a man-made lake on very high ground. This is made from simple technology (iron for pipes, geo-engineering, etc). It feeds a simple filtration system constructed from rocks and soil. Deep drilled holes could provide heated water. A food and barter economy would prevail, etc.
Thoughts?