Metropolis: Burning Man Theme 2010–what can the world learn from Black Rock City?

Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.
— Jane Jacobs

Tumult and change, churning cycles of invention and destruction – these forces generate the pulse of urban life. Great cities are organic, spontaneous, heterogeneous, and untidy hubs of social interaction. In 2010, we will inspect the daily course of city life and the future prospect of civilization .

Minutes after the Man met his firey demise, the art theme for 2010 was published on the Burning Man website (we’re crafty like that). The theme for this coming year is “Metropolis: The Life of Cities.” This theme is particularly befitting Burning Man, since we are in the unique position (one could say it’s an urban planner’s wet dream) to be able to create and dismantle a thriving metropolis every year, and to make adjustments that will cultivate community and culture, while supporting essential civic services. Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey writes about it here: http://bit.ly/2cXiOz

And of course what would a Metropolis be without KIDS? Burning Man org assures us that Kids will take a central position in Black Rock City this year. I look forward to see how this manifests itself–whether children and families will be more involved in the planning. I do know that Burning Man org members have been busy spawning a new generation of Burners!

We ought to know how to assemble a human habitat of high quality that … gives children and old people equal access to society’s civic institutions, that produces safe neighborhoods for the well-off and the less well-off, that promotes a sense of belonging to community, that honors what is beautiful, and which does not destroy its rural and agricultural surroundings. This habitat comes down to us from history in the form of villages, towns and cities.