String of Pearls: City of the Future

by Stan Kahn

The String of Pearls city is predicated on the existence of a more advanced, more enlightened future populace that's committed to creating an urban life designed for health, livability and spiritual growth. It's a city that people really want to live in as opposed to one they instinctively desire to escape from; one that can advance the seemingly contradictory goals of urban dynamism and lifestyle tranquility. The term String of Pearls depicts an image of the city's neighborhoods; each distinct, differentiated and special, strung together in a holistic urban web with high frequency, high speed transit. The complementary wide boundary greenbelts that separate them provide ample vehicle capacity as well as space for alternate forms of movement, long distance light rail, bicycling and walking; in a safe and beautiful environment. Greenbelts combined with stream and wetland re-creation put the natural world at the fingertips of all citizens. String of Pearls takes the existing urban fabric and provides an eminently practical, long term transition; 20 to 50 years;to the new paradigm.

297 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001