How would you design the city of the future?
For a number of years I have been teaching Engineering and Computer Science students, and this summer I have been teaching art and design students. Despite these divergent backgrounds the focus is clear, how to build a better world. There are, of course, disagreements about what a better world looks like, but they know that they can’t carry on like this. So, what are some of the best ideas I have come across for the city of the future?
First of all, the city of the future has to be built around the pedestrian and public transport not the car. The car lobby in just about every country is so powerful that we have been trapped in this spiral of congestion, building roads, more cars using those roads, congestion, building roads, more cars using those roads, and so on ad infinitum. In order to end this spiral I would make the inner part of the city car free during the day. Deliveries could be made during the times of the day where the fewest people are about. That way, cars and lorries would become far less dominant.
Next, I would make each home fit for the future by installing solar panels, roof gardens, water recycling and small wind turbines on and in every building. In our climate ravaged future we will need air conditioning not heating in the UK, so that would be built in to all new homes. Heating can be provided by electric heating which is centrally installed. In this way, the climate will not continue to change at the pace and to the extent that it has over the last two decades.
Finally, I would ensure that the city of the future has green spaces everywhere that they can be put. Trees reduce temperatures and increase wellbeing amongst residents. So, green parks would be built to replace the car parks we will no longer need and the roof gardens I mentioned earlier will provide further nature on our doorsteps. With fewer car parking spaces needed, we can reintroduce gardens as we remove the paved over entrances which replaced them to the detriment of the environment and which increased the flood risk by a huge amount.
So, there you have it. The new city of my dreams, the city that shall remain in my dreams because no politician is far sighted or caring enough to do something that will really help people. We are going to face a horrible future of climate induced misery because of the primacy of fossil fuels and the big businesses. Remember there is no Planet B.
Where did your name come from?
I am not sure why David was chosen for me when I was born, but my middle name is Gerald after my Dad.
It is a middle name that has caused a lot of amusement over the years, perhaps because it was never really fashionable and perhaps because it wasn’t what people associated with me. To be honest I always assumed the worst of people who laughed at it, but that probably reflects my secondary school experience where pretty much every student and the majority of the teachers never missed an opportunity to bully me. I have learnt over the years, however, to differentiate between those who do that with affection and those who do it with malice.
The irony of it is that no one, apart from his sisters, ever called my Dad Gerald, he was always Gerry. Something of a force of nature, he was tough as nails on the outside and a charismatic leader in our Scout troop. The scouts always respected him and occasionally feared him, but they all knew that he had their best interests at heart. To them, becoming old enough and trusted enough to be allowed to call him Gerry rather than Skip was a much appreciated rite of passage. No one would ever laugh at him for his name, but in any case he would give them short shift if they did. He was in the Navy for 15 years and as a younger man was very handy with his fists apparently. No, Gerry was a name that suited him and that no one ever questioned.
On the surface we couldn’t have been more different. He was ultra confident, I had very little, he was popular and respected, I was anything but. I both looked up to him and was nervous of him, as sons tended to be of their fathers in those days. As I grew older I started to realise that what was on the surface masked a depth of feeling that revealed a person who was incredibly complex. The vehicle for discovering that complexity was The Wonder Years, a programme we both became huge fans of. It was a ritual for one of us to ring the other just after the programme was finished each Sunday and discuss it. Jack Arnold, the father to central character Kevin, played so beautifully by Dan Lauria, turned out to be the catalyst for finally understanding my Dad. He admitted that he found Jack’s reactions to life in general and his son in particular very familiar. The inner emotional core that occasionally broke through was seen as something to be hidden because men of that time did not show it on either side of the Atlantic. To some extent they still don’t. Occasionally an episode would send my Dad off on an anecdote I had never heard before, but every episode seemed to bring us closer to understanding each other. The final episode really upset him because the final voice over reveals that Jack dies very young, not even in his sixties. He thought that was a poor return as years of hard work were finally starting to pay off, but his well earned time to relax and enjoy it in the future was snatched from his grasp. As I now reach the age my Dad was when he died, when his own retirement and his time as a grandfather was snatched from his grasp, I feel that I really understand his reaction at the deepest of levels.
So, a name that I used to hide because of the expected comments is one which I am now quietly proud of.
What motivates you?
I suppose this question goes back to the post on positive emotion. You are motivated by what makes you feel good. I like the sense of pride I have when I do something for some and it helps them. I like the sense of pride I get from achieving something in whatever field that might be. However, one thing motivates me above all else and that is my family. Everything I do, everything I am, is for them and because of them.
I remember when I first met my wife back in 1987. I was aimless and lost. Yes, I had potential, but it was being wasted. She saw that and slowly but surely gave me a new focus and a new determination. It was a slow process but it was, and remains, an ongoing one. When we were about to leave to go to Hong Kong the Mother of a friend of mine came to our farewell drinks because she wanted to meet the woman who had sorted me out!! She wasn’t wrong!
Since becoming a Father I have had another focus and another motivation. Providing for them, of course, but much more importantly, trying to be a good role model for them as a person. As with all of us, I fall extremely short on most occasions because human beings are generally speaking unsuccessful at being their best selves. However I am always trying.
Now that I am looking forward to life after year round work I suppose that’s where a small measure of doing things for myself comes in, but I have a set of projects to complete involving our family history so it all comes back to that. On my own I don’t amount to much, but with Janet and the children in my corner I can become someone who matters in a small way at least.
What are your top ten favorite movies?
When it comes to films, I enjoy those that give me an escape from the diet of bad news that seems to be everywhere at the moment. I also enjoy the films that take me back to being a child again. I decided to think of this as a desert island challenge. If I was on my own on a desert island, which films could I rewatch time after time? You won’t find any crime stories, although you will find a couple of scary films that give me a change of pace and subject matter. They are in date order to make the list easier to work with. For each film I will include a very brief synopsis and the reason why I have chosen it. By the way, if you asked me again in a week’s time the list could vary but I think at least half of them are set in stone.
My Ten Desert Island Discs
- Dead of Night (1945) This incredible portmanteau horror film is the story of Walter Craig, an architect who arrives at a cottage in Kent. Upon entering a room with a collection of people he tells them that he has seen them all before in a dream. The film uses this as the framing for five stories of the supernatural, my favourite of which is the first one. Walter Craig is played by my favourite ‘obscure’ actor Mervyn Johns, father of Glynis, who was perhaps one of the finest character actors ever. His performances in Went The Day Well, Day of the Triffids and as Bob Cratchit in Scrooge are all worth watching.
- The Bishop’s Wife (1947) A brilliant Christmas fantasy with a star powered central pairing of David Niven as Bishop Henry Brougham and Cary Grant as the Angel Dudley. For more details see my post here It is a Christmas classic that I think is better than It’s A Wonderful Life!
- The Sound of Music (1965) The classic musical with every song a winner and a practically perfect central performance by Julie Andrews. I have always loved watching it and will do so again before our trip to Salzburg in November where I want to see as many of the original locations as possible. Edelweiss is my favourite song from any musical.
- The Aristocats (1970) I had to have a classic Disney and this is the one I have chosen. A film I remember seeing at the cinema and listening to songs from on one of my favourite albums It is perhaps the epitome of the 60s output and despite certain elements that may not have aged well, it’s an absolute joy.
- Melody (1971) This is a film I am completely evangelical about. It is the most perfect evocation of first love ever put on screen and was a huge influence on many film makers. Wes Anderson has said that Moonrise Kingdom is based on Melody. Mark Lester is typically appealing, Jack Wild is typically cheeky, but debutante Tracy Hyde just steals the film in her role as Melody Perkins. The London setting is absolutely fantastic as a social and historical time capsule. The Bee Gees soundtrack is brilliant and features one of my all time favourite songs, First of May. Find it, see it and thank me for the recommendation afterwards!
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) A classic family film with a brilliant central performance from Gene Wilder and a factory built of Pure Imagination. However, for my younger self, my love for this film stemmed from the character Veruca Salt. This selfish, greedy, controlling character was played by the lovely Julie Dawn Cole, who I had a huge crush on from the moment I saw her. Over 50 years after the film I finally got to meet my boyhood crush and she was even lovelier than I could have imagined.
- The Wicker Man (1973) This is probably the greatest British horror film ever made. With Christopher Lee at his hypnotic best and Edward Woodward matching him with acerbic asides and moral certainty, this was never going to be a bad film. However, it’s the ending that makes it one of the best films of the era. I won’t spoil it of course, but I had real trouble sleeping the night I first saw it.
- A Christmas Carol (1984) I have to take a version of Ebenezer Scrooge to the island and the central performance that comes closest to the book is in this film. American great George C Scott gives Scrooge a reality that he has never otherwise had on film, or arguably in the book. The flesh and blood businessman could come from any time up to and including ours. He is not as horrible at the start and less unhinged at the end. All in all, a perfect portrayal.
- Love Actually (2003) My favourite film, one I have seen every year since 2004 and can remember whole sections of. It’s appeal has never dimmed and it has become part of our family Christmas. Rather like the Dickens’ Christmas Festival, it can’t be Christmas unless we have seen this film. My favourite story is the gorgeous first love of Sam for the apparently unattainable Joanna. I don’t care whether it’s divisive, I will watch it every Christmas and love it every Christmas, actually!
- Inside Out (2015) Pixar’s finest film in my opinion. The way that the emotions are portrayed inside Riley’s head and the effect they have on her behaviour towards herself and others, is presented with real heart and subtlety. It is the perfect family film, appealing to adults, teenagers and children in very different ways, and I will always find myself becoming emotional at the end.
What do you enjoy most about writing?
When I restarted this blog I think I wanted to use it for myself as a kind of diary. Obviously I wanted to bring my ideas and opinions to a more public realm, but I have to admit that I didn’t really expect to get a lot of attention. That expectation proved correct in a comparative sense given the relatively small readership I have, but in another sense I was incorrect. Some of my posts have encouraged comments and some have been shared in different places on the Internet, and my readers come from around the world. That has changed my writing style when I look at the blog posts over the years.
I have made more effort to engage and to challenge. I have taken much longer to craft some of my posts. I have started to consider what gets a lot of reaction (in comparative terms) and what gets overlooked. Now, I don’t think the posts that get overlooked are worse than the posts that get lots of attention, but I can see why that is the case. I think that when I let a bit more of myself into a post, it connects better with the audience and is, in a sense, easier to write. The daily prompt has really encouraged me to be more immediate in my writing and I think that has helped.
I have found blogging to be a good way of destressing even if I have occasionally got frustrated with a post that hasn’t quite hit the mark! I have enjoyed the interaction increasing almost exponentially since I started with the daily prompt, because at heart I want to reach people. That is why I became a teacher, why I wrote and self published a couple of not very well received books over a decade ago, and why I started writing about music online. I am not the best person at communicating in real life but it’s something I am getting better at doing online.
Thank you to everyone reading this and any other posts for letting me communicate with you. If you ever want to communicate with me I love the dopamine hit of a comment so please feel free to put one at the bottom of any of my 250 previous posts!
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 