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As someone who's done quite a bit of travelling and is now based in the capital of Malaysia (not the best city by a long shot), I always fantasized about what the perfect city

would look like, the kind of city we all want to live in. 

In today's issue, I'll try to create a vision of the perfect city that one day I'll hopefully be able to see 👇

Here are 5 things that I would like:

1. Open, walkable multi-level retail 🏪
2. Walkable streets 🚶
3. Efficient public transport 🚉
4. Diverse architecture 🏗️
5. Shades 😎

1. Open, walkable multi-level retail 🏪

• These are places you can walk to, where you can sit and admire the city during the day and grab a drink, have fun during the night
• Emphasizing "open" and "walkable". We don't want any more shopping malls 😒
• Most European countries already employed this concept but the one that stood out to me is probably Tokyo's hippest neighbourhood: Shimokitazawa

2. Walkable streets 🚶

• For any city to thrive, the key is to have walkable access 
• People like walkable urban spaces where they can stroll around to shop or just hang out and meet other people
• We want a city where we can get most things we need within a 15 minutes walk or cycling

3. Efficient public transport 🚉

• The fact is we need cars because public transport is really bad
• And why is public transport bad? It's either because the infrastructure is not built out properly or they are not within a walkable distance 
• An ideal comprehensive public transport network would be one within a 400 metres radius of your house or workplace

4. Diverse architecture 🏗️

• The buildings we build today are all done in a rush without the slightest care for details
• Compared to Paris and Versailles, you have to ask yourself: "Where has our pursuit of beauty gone?"
• Now I know that it just wouldn't be economical and the regulations today may limit some of the creativity but still, some eye-pleasing architectures will bring so much life to a city   

5. Shade 😎

• It's nice to sit and walk in the shade, especially in tropical countries like Malaysia 
• The best way to create shades is to have buildings with overhangs, canopied walkways and a bunch of big, spreading trees beside the roads
• Malaysians keep complaining that it's too hot to cycle. I, too agree but with enough trees as shades and proper cycling lanes, it may just be tolerable enough

Now all these may not look exactly like the future city you want to create but only by putting out a bunch of ideas can we convince the people of our cities that megaprojects and shopping malls won't turn our cities into London clones.

To create the future we must first dream the future. I really hope to see the birth of the "perfect city" in Malaysia during my lifetime 🇲🇾

Before you go...

• Check out issue #72 where we talked about the network state 🌎
• Follow us on Twitter
• Have any friends or colleagues that would be interested in this issue? Forward them this email!
• You could also read past issues here

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If you like this sort of stuff, please do follow me on Twitter (@hong_1011).

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