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CONCLUSION
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a
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outlines of a debate that has not yet occurred. Look at the master plans developed by many of these municipalities, with their “win-win” visions of mass-marketed bucolic bliss, and you really do have to ask yourself: “What is wrong with this picture?” By way of provocation, and to get the discussion going since our designated respondent has not yet arrived, I will respond by suggesting that what is wrong is not so much the picture but the frame. The problem is not one of deciding between visions of suburban development cast in a hazy nostalgia for a bygone era and futuristic visions that we are more likely to see in gated communities planned for Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, or Singapore. The problem is that virtually all of these visions, and others like them, default into the idea that the urban future is one in which markets rule, states defer, and NGOs look after the damage. Or, to put it in more cultural terms, the global urban future is the American Dream writ large, and translated into other languages that undermine its nationalistic claims on the one hand, while verifying its dubious claims to universality on the other. Forgive me if this sounds like an oversimplification. It is not, especially when you recognize it as a story with a very simple, effective plot line rather than a hard and fast description of empirical reality. Such stories have real effects, not the least of which involves placing very real limits on the imaginations of architects, economists, politicians, and citizens alike. That is what I mean by the frame. Change the frame and you change the world. But I see that Socrates, who needs no introduction here, has arrived. Perhaps he has something to add? Socrates Thank you, Diotima, and my apologies for missing the earlier talks. Glaucon and I were stuck in traffic. From your description they all seem wonderful, and so I thank my colleagues for the work they have done, and for their patience in entertaining my own modest thoughts on matters of such significance. I have listened carefully to Diotima’s remarks and must say that I agree with nearly everything she has said. But on the way here, Glaucon and I got to talking about this