The Next 50...
Back when the twenty-first century was unimaginably far in the future, Seattle hosted a World’s Fair that dared to imagine it. That was fifty years ago next year. This Sunday the Downtown Tacoma Public Library will host a book talk by Alan J. Stein, co-author of The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and Its Legacy. Seattle is using the 50th anniversary of the fair as an opportunity to look forward again, to its next half century, with a project they’re calling “The Next 50.”
The 1962 fair was all about the future, and about human potential to do amazing things. With all the talk of budget troubles and cuts, we could use a little of that optimism these days. Thinking about all this put us in a contemplative mood. What will the Tacoma of 2062 think of Tacoma of 2012? What legacy will we have left? Like the Seattle Center and Space Needle, will we have built lasting physical legacies? Will we have dreamed big enough? The 1962 dreams weren’t about getting it right – not about predicting the future – they were about dreaming big, about human potential to build a future full of unimagineable possibilities. We can build grand physical structures, or we can make other investments in creating public space, whether literal or figurative. What dreams do we have for ourselves that we can translate into legacies to inspire future generations?
Read more about The Future Remembered book talk from The News Tribune.
Read about Seattle’s “The Next 50” at www.thenextfifty.org.
4 comments
J Jesse December 12, 2011
I would be happy if shopping returned to downtown in the next 50 years.
T talus December 12, 2011
In 50 years I want a comprehensive streetcar system within the city, a light rail connection to the airport and Seattle that runs 24 hours, and a bike path from Point Defiance to Mt. Rainier National Park. I want less air pollution from the Tideflats, and less visual pollution from billboards in Tacoma and along I-5 in Fife. And I want Old City Hall to be alive and well.
J Jesse December 12, 2011
… plus what talus said.
T talus December 13, 2011
And while we’re dreaming of peace, love, and urban revitalization, how about if in 50 years Pierce County’s military base-dependent economy is replaced with an economy supported primarily by technology, science, education, and art centered in downtown Tacoma thanks to its excellent transit system. JBLM will be scaled back and the public will enjoy the Puget Sound Prairie National Recreation Area.
And Tacoma will have an Ethiopian restaurant in the revitalized Freighthouse Square, right next to the Warhol Dome.