The City of Tomorrow
Disney’s “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”
“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” -Walt Disney
Food For Thought
The City Of Tomorrow
In the early 1960s, Walt Disney began to worry about the future of the world. By this time, Disney himself was in his 60s and had many grandchildren. He worried that modern cities were no place for them to grow up, believing that they “were hectic, disorganized, dirty, and crime-ridden.”
Enter: The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT)
EPCOT was a city concept formulated by Disney that was to be, “a real city that would never cease to be the blueprint of the future.”
Designed to be a company town that would be at the forefront of city innovation, Disney wanted EPCOT to act as a space for testing and stimulating new ideas for urban living.
According to Marty Sklar who was part of Disney’s marketing team in the 50’s:
“Walt Disney had one foot in the past, because he loved nostalgia, and one foot in the future, because he loved new technology.”
Disney traveled the world searching for the most cutting edge tech. He read futurist books and worked closely with tech companies with radical ideas. He wanted all of these influences to come together into one city: EPCOT.
Unfortunately, EPCOT never became a reality. After Disney’s death in 1966, the land became the Walt Disney World Resort.
Today, we are still working to create this perfect “city of tomorrow.” Architects and city planners around the world work day in and day out to design transportation, buildings, and systems that will define the cities of the future.
The key is finding a perfect balance between incorporating cutting edge tech of the future while still drawing from the familiar designs we love from the past.
This weekend, March 15 and 16, New York City is hosting the City of Tomorrow: Real Estate, Architecture & Design Summit. Here are just a few of the topics covered:
- Designing for Resiliency and the Transcendent in a Mega-Urban World
- Technology: Changing the Way We Procure, Purchase, and Live in Our Homes
- How Do You Build a Better City? Urban Planners, Architects & Innovators Debate
No one knows exactly what the future holds, but symposiums like this connect you with the brilliant minds who are helping build it.
Want to learn more about where our cities are heading? Check out the Future of Cities podcast. ⤵️
Future Of Cities
A Better Future Won’t Happen Unless We Build It…
In 2007, for the first time in human history, more people lived in cities than outside of them.
Cities shape how we live and they are only becoming more important. But an urban future isn’t necessarily a better one.
In the Future of Cities podcast, we deep dive into topics and technology that are vital to creating a better world. We share stories from history and look to science fiction for clues of what lies ahead. Each episode features interviews with industry leading experts — including city planners, technology innovators, government officials, architects, builders, and more.
A better future won’t happen unless we build it.
So hit subscribe and join us as we explore the Future of Cities.
Deep Dive
Inside Walt Disney’s Ambitious, Failed Plan to Build the City of Tomorrow
“It all began with a vision of a wheel. Folks would call the circumference home, while a climate-controlled city center would house corporations from all over the world. Between the urban and suburban would lie the greenbelt, dotted with parks, golf courses, and anything else paradise had to offer. A web of electric monorails and car-sized movers would act as the spokes, zipping residents to and fro. No more grueling commute. No more noisy streets. No more of life’s little frustrations.”
Watch This
TED Playlist: Our Future In Cities
So apparently, TED makes playlists for popular topics so you can “binge-learn.” Count us in!
In this playlist, you’ll “explore the crowded favelas, greened-up blocks and futuristic districts that could shape the future of cities — and take a profane, hilarious side trip to the suburbs.”
#FunFactFriday
It’s A Peafowl, Not A Peacock
We’ve been taught wrong our entire lives…
Peacocks are the male version of the peafowl. The female peafowl is called a “peahen.”
Is this a super important, life-changing fact?
No.
But it still blew our minds. 😂
Sign Off ✌️
Happy Friday!
It’s Friday, you all! You survived another week. 🎉
We hope you have a great weekend! 🤗
This was originally published on March 15, 2019 as The Mission’s daily newsletter. To subscribe, go here.
About Us
Mission.org is a new kind of media company. We publish stories, videos, and podcasts to help smart people get smarter.
Custom Podcasts
Mission.org helps mission-driven companies build trust and connect with customers in a new way. We create custom podcast sponsorships for enterprise companies. To learn more about why companies like Salesforce trust us to produce results, connect with our team here.
