Takeoffs there are interesting, too. People grab onto the chain link fence and allow themselves to be lifted off their feet by the thrust from the jet engines.
Runways are getting shorter these days, and they're increasingly in urban areas. That's a good thing. Planes are seen to best advantage when they're close up.
I'm less worried about accidents, which are rare, than I am about noise, but that may be less of a problem in the near future. Noise cancellation technology gets better every year. When it's feasible, I want to see giant planes fly close up over the main streets of our big cities. I want to see the rivets.
Our cities are in desperate need of exotic trees of all kinds. I don't see why they can't be grown on private tree farms with root systems made compact enough to allow for easy transportation and replanting. This should be a thriving business.
We should aim to bring the jungle into the big city. Parks are fine, but we also need lots of foliage in the rest of the town. How do we combine greenery with high-density living? I'll bet it's already been figured out. Michael Sporn posts examples sometimes.
Whatever happened to front porches? They don't cost much to build and they make a house a lot cozier.
I'm a big believer in sleeping porches (above); in fact I have one attached to the back of my own house. We sleep out there in the summer. With screens all around it's like camping out. You end up looking forward to storms and thundershowers, and it's wonderful to wake up to bird songs.
We need lots more walking bridges in the cities.
Ditto balconies (above).
In some areas we should build houses right up to the sea. You should get wet when you walk along the sidewalk.
Somehow we have to figure out a way to release wild animals in the big city. I want to see lions and tigers and monkeys outside my widow. Isn't there a way to make that happen?
We should build in the tornado belt. With the right stretchable materials maybe we could have wind resistant houses. We might even begin to think of the recreational uses of tornadoes.
Maybe we need little ledge-like roads that would wind around the sides of our tall buildings. Electronic guidance would prevent most accidents.
Aaaargh, there's lots more to discuss, but I'll have to save it for another post.
