The Physical Conditions for Human Flourishing in a Post-Sprawl World: A Metropolitan Case Study

The physical forms of human settlements can neither cause nor determine individual and communal well-being, but forms of human settlement can either promote or obstruct the variety of external goods that promote human flourishing. Some settlement forms are better than others — more durable, economically resilient, convenient, and beautiful — in sum, better stewardship of creation’s bounty. Since the mid-20th century, we have not been making such settlements. This talk presents a project imagining a better human future, a future grounded in both nature and human nature, achievable by persons who understand themselves as intermediate beings — in classic Christian terms, as citizens of two Cities.