There is a major shift happening in the world.
The trend that culminated in the 1950s as the nuclear family, where every family, and then every person had their own house and were completely independent of anything and anyone.
Or, so they thought.
One of the greatest tragedies we will face is the retirement of the baby-boomer generation. This group of people who prided themselves on independence. The same ones who raised latch-key kids. Are going to wake into a world where they NEED the help of others. And these others are going to be very jaded about helping them.
The sad thing is that the baby-boomers will not apologize for not being there, or for forcing their children out of the nest. They will not even know they should apologize for the misery and suffering they have wrought. They will only demand support, and will not go easily to assisted living locations. They will try to stay in their houses way past the time when they should have left. Thus being an inordinate burden to those who will later be even more burdened (and already worn out) by their foolish attempt at being independent.
Further, this group will leave nothing but debt to their children. The oh so expensive houses, which are seen as their main (only) asset, will not even be worth fire wood.
It does not end well for the baby-boomers. Their will be much despair and gnashing of teeth.
However, a new generation and social structure is beginning to form.
Groups of people who are tightly knit, like the way we used to think of families.
Something similar to tribes of yore.
But these tribes are not enforced for the safety of a group in a particular area (you were part of the tribe, or you were alone to face the wilds) these groups are mobile, in that the group is the locus, not the location. In fact, many of these groups only exist on the etherwebs.
In my opinion these new groups / pods / tribes will be tomorrow's communities.
Add to this new technology that will allow power, water and internet to be created at any spot on earth, and these groups will migrate out to areas that are considered empty right now.
Already, everything that you used to need a big store for, is now delivered. So, it no longer important to be in a big city. There is nothing holding people to living in a crowded, smoggy, life draining place. Especially as the jobs are disappearing.
However, antithetically, the downtown areas of many places are being revitalized. They are being turned into bike / walk friendly areas with many social outlets.
Over the last century, people have been leaving rural areas for the cities. And over the past few decades, everyone was leaving the cities for the suburbs. Most of the talking heads on the MSM were saying that the city / downtown was dead. The suburbs was where it was at.
Strip malls sprang up all over. Miles of strip malls. Miles of wanton destruction of the landscape. All of them the same. You go to any city in america now, and you see the same thing. No character, no charm.
James Howard Kunstler calls it the "National Automobile Slum", and goes on further talking about how we send brave boys and girls off to defend this country, when there really isn't anything left to defend, or for that matter, to come home too. It is all just so blah.
But to be more to the point of this article, the suburban layout that is only fit for automobile transport with all of its independent houses, which makes interacting with your neighbors impossible in any meaningful way, while smashing all people as close together as possible, is no longer useful to humans.
Things like a common center around which the dwellings are arranged were a thing of the past. A thing that can be seen in any of the old cities. This will make a come back. As the new communities / families / tribes create new, life beneficial, places to actually live.
There again will be small towns everywhere, but not these static, dead end places that people have been fleeing. With the new technologies of shipped to door goods and local manufacturing and internet communications, these towns will spring up all over. Not isolated little pockets, but interconnected groups of interconnected groups.
All other images by me