Here’s a mildly interesting video of American Mayors addressing the question: “What makes a city smart?”
What jumped out for me is the response Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago gives to his own question at 1:10: “Is there any foreign corporation or government willing to invest in a high-speed train…?” Answer: China, Korea, parts of the Middle East.
Then he adds: “They would want to design it, build it, operate it, maintain it. Of course with American workers.…”
SFU Urban Studies Director Anthony Perl has previously noted the irony: A century ago, it was the Chinese who built our railways as labourers. Says Dr. Perl:
In the 19th century Chinese labourers did the dirty jobs that no Europeans wanted to take on in completing North America’s railway network. In the 21st century, the Chinese will again play an essential role in bringing high-speed trains to this continent, but they will reap greater rewards from the value they have created by designing and engineering these systems.
How smart is that?
History and future foretelling..is bittersweet. Thanks for pointing out the full circle irony…many of us just sort of lost this fact in front of our face. 🙂
Article on outdoor public art on this history.
http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/outdoor-art-work-as-a-thread-of-national-history-across-canada-monuments-to-chinese-canadian-railway-workers/
There is a connection to community preservation and transportation planning: the historic Chinatowns (not suburban ones) in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary were all threatened with proposed freeway which were each stopped after considerable citizen protest.