(re) Making City, NETWORKED COMMUNITIES,
Shared Pasts and Futures

Introduction

During the Cold War, over 1200 communities across the U.S. were implicitly tied together in a network of defense related industries and efforts. Initially, each location benefitted from massive public investment, affording a high quality of life and education to their citizens. Today, many of these communities are struggling both environmentally and economically.

At the time, little was known about the consequences of these processes on the environment. Today, as plants close down and environmental damage is assessed, jobs are disappearing and cleanup estimates are skyrocketing. Many of these communities are becoming overwhelmed by the question of how to handle this situation.

By evaluating several of these communities across the country and the world, the Atomic Cities Research Group made the observation that Energy, Economy, Education and Environment are inextricably related. Further, the health and wealth of any community can be diagnosed through the success of numbers and kinds of interrelations between and among these attributes at any time. To prove this hypothesis, the group needed to learn how these elements act in different scenarios.

The team ran exhaustive comparisons of nine Atomic Cities involving almost 100 different criteria. Seven of the sites are in the United States, but Shannon, Quebec, Canada and Seascale, England were also considered very closely. By understanding how various cities handle cleanup, employment, stress and health issues, education, public participation and other factors, the Atomic Cities Research Group is starting to understand how deeply interconnected Energy, Economy, Education and Environment really are. The Atomic Cities Research Group believes that “Atomic” communities can learn from one another.

It is from this analysis that the team draws its greatest optimism. When clean Energy, thriving Economy, Educated populace and a healthy Environment are poised in precise dynamic equilibrium, the Atomic Cities Research Group believes that growth will follow.