i wouldn't be so quick to idealize europe, they've got their share of problems. just this morning i heard a story on npr about tensions between migrant workers in south italy and the citizens. migrant workers were tired of ill compensation and the organized crime's hold on everything there, while many of the italians were feeling how a lot of white americans feel about mexicans behind closed doors. now they're rounding up the migrant workers into camps or after some riots or something like that, i was on my way out when i heard the story
and greece is having major economic problems right now, and the euro central bank said that they're not going to support them, which might mean trouble for the euro for some reason or another. i don't know, i'm not good with current events, but i don't think they're 'more advanced' than us in any respect, although uhc would be nice.
but on topic, something tells me that these 'future cities' won't really be in our future. the real heavyweights that determine the direction of these sorts of things (china, US, Europe/Russia) are too large and unwieldy for such a massive infrastructure upheaval. the future cities might be good for research and development, but only if it's applicable to existing countries.
