ULI Senior Resident Fellow Bill Hudnut found the discussions at the recent World Cities Forum in Shanghai troubling as well as enlightening. Below are some additional thoughts from Bill upon returning back to the United States:
"I found the World Cities Forum meeting in Shanghai frightening. A couple of speakers referred to a train wreck coming down the road if we do not change our ways, and make a national, local and global commitment to greater energy efficiency and environmental conservation, to say nothing of alleviating poverty and fighting global warming. I found it frightening because I have a 14-year-old boy who will hopefully someday be a parent with kids of his own. What's going to happen to them if our mentality is not changed? If we go on with business as usual and don't take the imminence of the train wreck seriously? Americans are so comfortable, so unused to sacrifice, so averse to changes in their lifestyle, so spoiled. Can we create positive change? That's why I am frightened. I see no leaders on the national stage who are up to the challenge of rallying our country around goals of sustainability. I am troubled by the clouds on the horizon. What can any of us do? What does the World Cities Forum say about the role of ULI? To me, it says, SOUND THE ALARM. RING A CLARION BELL. GIVE AS MANY PEOPLE AS WE CAN A WAKE-UP CALL. ULI should become a gadfly for change. I have tried to sound this theme in projects I have been working on, in areas such as climate change, affordable housing, regional thinking and acting, funding the infrastructure deficit, balancing growth with preservation and conservation. But I do not feel as though I have spoken forcefully enough. It should be a collective effort by all of us at ULI, and our members, to face the problems discussed in Shanghai and deal with them as directly and positively as we can. We cannot do everything, but we can do something, and because we cannot do everything, that does not mean we should not do what we can do."
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