What might be in store for our communities in the next generation? Will we have a society where we live in harmony and in balance with our surroundings? Will technologies have mastered the fuel cell to use as electricity, with a waste product of simple water vapor? Will our schools have become centers of community, educating students in a morality-based value system where they look forward to attending every day? What would a hydrogen-economy city of the future look like? As architects, we have special training to identify and visualize these solutions.

The AIA California Council's Urban Design Task Force is developing a vision of how our communities might look in the next generation. The products and services we offer will provide ample opportunities for everyone who wants to work, helping to transform resources in a sustainable manner. The waste stream of one process could be the raw resource for another, eventually making the term waste obsolete.

Today, conservation is a mantra that may really mean to prolong doing the wrong thing. By eliminating the concept of waste, the idea of conservation may become an anachronism.

In this generation, we face challenges as well as exciting opportunities. Twenty years ago, nuclear energy–with still-unresolved issues of radiation and waste–was the only source given serious consideration. Today, the multitudes of energy source options available include Photovoltaics, Wind Energy, and Fuel Cells, and each one is virtually pollution free.

Is it possible that human behavior can be modified by architecture and planning? Could it be that crime and violence will be influenced by how well we design our structures and lay out our cities? A new scientific study is documenting how we react to stimulating environments, actually causing physical changes such as the creation of brain cells!