22nd Century Urban Landscape

Ridiculous wealth built on the backs of people foraging for scraps of garbage. Is this dystopia? Or only "Things to Come."

What is the future of our communities?  Every major urban center on our speck of rock and oceans orbiting a middle-aged star is expanding and has both affluent and struggling components.  Populations are diverse yet increasingly more segregated -- but not only by race. The poor hate and envy the rich. The rich ridicule the poor who never inherited money or were not blessed by rare opportunities to accumulate wealth; yet, it is the poor and disenfranchised who provide vital assets: muscle, innovation, culture, inspiration, as well as livability of the spaces inhabited by all people.

You would be surprised at what human ingenuity in desperation conditions can achieve. The Egyptian Pyramids were not built just by Pharaohs; working class people constructed magnificent monuments with the guidance of a few brilliant minds wishing to celebrate their society and strengthen their beliefs as well as feed their families.

It is ridiculous to exclaim that all wealthy people are grotesque parasites who suck out the essence of human activities simply for greed and the need to add more splendors into a few personal collections.

Yet, all great civilizations will face their doom unless a workable compromise can be achieved.