TED Conversations

Closing Statement from Daniel Raven-Ellison

Thank you TED community for taking the time to join our conversation. I have been fascinated by the diverse range of contributions that have been made. The stories that have been shared are particularly powerful, with examples of how globalisation is impacting on the communities that we live in, visit and influence.

What is clear is that many of us are working from very different definitions of what 'local' means. Ronald Estrada describes local as "minimal, ecological, and symbiotic" while Iain Ellwood says it is more of "a state of mind not a geographic destination". This idea links well to Dustin Smith's suggestion that technology "changes who we spend time with, and allows us to choose "our own local".

The diversity of definitions of 'local' goes a long way to explain why we have so many different predictions about the future. Steve Knight had the most radical prediction, suggesting that personal air travel "will allow people to re-populate currently remote and unpopulated areas of the world". Pabitra Mukhopadhyay, Dorian Knus and many others share our concern that global forces are damaging local places and raise valid concerns for the future. These worries are met by many points that express the advantages of globalisation, including one by David Rogers who asks "Is the advantage of globalisation the ability to start a conversation anywhere in the world around common experiences?"

There have been a number of engaging solutions, including ways for tourists, travel companies and host communities to act more responsibly and sustainably. The common areas here appear to be high quality research, learning, education, empowerment and participation. Scan through to find some real gems.

Finally, thank you to InterContinental Hotels & Resorts for sponsoring this conversation. This specific discussion is closed, but you can follow the "Future of Local" project via Twitter on #FutureOfLocal. And we'll begin a new conversation on TED.com in the coming weeks.

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  • David Gwillam

    • +1
    Mar 13 2013: I asked my 2 classes of 14yo geographers...define local, define global. Then what is the future?
    The hardest part was by far the definition of LOCAL, as the concept of proximity didn't seem to work! The feeling was that global products and services will grow, but fragment for regions.

    Groups discussed whether LEDCs are deeply LOCAL but aspire to GLOBAL, while wealthier allows the choice to be either, and pay for the extra costs of more bespoke LOCAL.

    Consensus was that LOCAL is the personal interactions that occur, and that even skype does not currently break this. Although students growing up in a connected world of gaming etc, they still understood that a discussion with an expert human is a thing to value.

    Balance was that little depressed that global so strong, but a mature discussion! :-)
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    Daniel Raven-Ellison 20+

    • +3
    TED AttendeeExplorer
    Mar 13 2013: With 89 comments so far, I have been fascinated by the diverse range of contributions that have been made. The stories that have been shared are particularly powerful, with examples of how globalisation is impacting on the communities that we live in, visit and influence.

    What is clear is that many of us are working from very different definitions of what 'local' means. Ronald Estrada describes local as "minimal, ecological, and symbiotic" while Iain Ellwood says it is more of "a state of mind not a geographic destination". This idea links well to Dustin Smith's suggestion that technology "changes who we spend time with, and allows us to choose "our own local".

    The diversity of definitions of what 'local' means goes a long way to explain why we have so many different predictions about what the future may hold. Steve Knight had the most radical prediction, suggesting that personal air travel "will allow people to re-populate currently remote and unpopulated areas of the world". Pabitra Mukhopadhyay, Dorian Knus and many others share our concern that global forces are damaging local places and raise valid concerns for the future. These worries are met by many points that express the advantages of globalisation, including one by David Rogers who asks "Is the advantage of globalisation the ability to start a conversation anywhere in the world around common experiences?"

    There have been a number engaging solutions suggested that tackle many of the problems that have been raised. These have included ways for tourists, travel companies and host communities to act more responsibly and sustainably. From my point of view the common areas here are in high quality research, learning, education, empowerment and participation. Scan through and you will find some real gems.

    This specific conversation is now closing on TED, but it has not come to an end. You can follow the progress of the "Future of Local" project via Twitter on #FutureOfLocal.

    Thank you all!
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    Tom Morgan-Jones

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    Mar 13 2013: I don't like that I made a product which uses so many resources and travels half way round the world. But was the social value worth it? There are a myriad of ways we can travel. If it's me or something I've created I find myself asking is it even necessary? I've been on trips across the Atlantic & justified it as it's a business trip, though it seems a great hit for the planet . I could just use the internet. Although this isn't a patch on an in person meeting, And you shouldn’t use the internet for a holiday! Or should I just chill out, a lot of people travel so why miss out? I find it astonishing that people fly from the south of England to Scotland when they could get the train, of course it's to save time, for our own convenience, rather than that of this one off little orb we're spinning about on. We're mucking it up, at a great rate, and it will catch up with us. If we can have better local links and less global travel then it will help us in the long run, it will pinch but I wonder if we're out of control on the whole. I'm not asking us all to get on a bike and cycle the planet, although what a world that would be. Some of us often feel they are owed a holiday, and feel the need to escape to somewhere more exotic, when there are undiscovered gems on our own doorsteps that I'd guess a lot of us know nothing about. I'm not against flight, cars etc, but I think if we looked at the amount we use them it would be healthier. I appreciate the UK’s a very small nation and it's different if you live in the US for example. but this old rock don't give a damn about this. I sound like a hobbit that doesn't want to get out of it's hole and travel the world ,experience it's beauty, meet amazing people and be wowed by new customs. If we set up better ways to travel using renewable energy I'm sure it might untwist my twisted instincts. Heck I think I need to relax about it, maybe I'll book a flight to somewhere hot and unwind :)

  • Bruno Neves 10+

    • +1
    Mar 13 2013: I find that the world is entering a new dark age. Historically speaking, we are between the points where the beauty of knowledge and arts (as left from the classical roman and greek periods) are at their greatest, but greatly threatened by a powerful beast. Back then, it was religion. Now it is branding and advertising.

    Much of my personality is derived from the sheer amount of times I have altered the location and cultural surroundings of my "home". I lived in Portugal, in what felt like a small, close community, with somewhat hard to approach peoples. Then to Brazil, where consumerism was cherished – but people were extremely approachable and friendly. Now, I live in London, where some would say is one of the "centers" of the world for culture and trade. I find London to be a perfect example of the world as we see it; on my first few explorations, I hit the main routes, undergone by tourists, and saw nothing of interest. There were shops, cell-phones and busy people who would not stop to look you in the eye if you said hello to them as they passed by. It seemed depressing and overrun by capitalism. I felt that this was what travel was degrading towards.

    But then I took to less known routes, and found another beast entirely! Gypsy markets, where people of all cultures shared their cultures and hand-crafted goods; musicians playing on street corners, connecting with crowds...

    What I derived from these experiences is: the world is getting smaller, but it isn't interconnected yet. There is a dominant power, be it the western apple stores and McDonalds, or the fast-food chinese restaurants. Airlines make it easy to travel to other areas, but the experiences are still factory-line tourist attractions. In a truly interconnected world, the airlines take you there, but you would not go to see the Eiffel Tower; you would go to the exotic streets, where you could embrace local customs and local culture. Being able to connect to locals is what traveling should be about.
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      Daniel Raven-Ellison 20+

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      TED AttendeeExplorer
      Mar 13 2013: In my opinion it is the other way around. Everything and everyone is interconnected, but the world is not getting smaller. Geographers, place makers and architects often use the idea of a 'sense of place' to describe how people think and feel about places. Some people have a 'sense' of the world shrinking, but in reality this is just technology speeding up how quickly some people can travel and communicate.

      Like many other comments here, your story shows again how important it is to consider the nature of the connection. Just being in a place is not enough, we need to think about what kind of relationship we want to have with it. Am I close to what you are getting at?

  • Haleac Merrick

    • +1
    Mar 13 2013: I personally believe there is a tidal wave of change altering the palimpsest of society. It is rewriting our concepts of what is local, and dramatically transforming our understanding of relationship. It is true that there are fewer eclectic shops, and the ones that remain are in predominantly tourist districts. As a society our values have shifted and there appears to be less and less of an emphasis of connectedness with other people. I believe this has made it that much easier to think inwardly and forget that our financial decisions once used to be about more than the attainment of possession.

    In the past, consumerism was also tied in with an attachment to human beings and the geographical area you called home. Going to the supermarket meant engaging with the shop owners in an authentic manner. One would not simply buy an item, they’d be part of society, they would engage with the person on the other side of the counter. At some point we forgot that these local stores supported our friends and family, and got more concerned with mass consumption of “stuff” and shopped base on price, not community. Today’s Walmart’s are devoid of any authentic relationship, they are merely about the exchange of commerce’s.

    While maintaining local is important I believe a bigger question is a stake, and it pertains to our abilities to create and maintain meaningful relationships. Does having a couple hundred friends on facebook truly enhance our lives, or make us more human? Has twitter really done anything to move us forward as a race? What is our gauge of success? There is a fundamental change in our children, they are not being raised in an environment like you and I. They have not been taught authentic community; it is quickly being eroded from our society. It is this new mindset that will continue the push for ‘bigger’ and ‘better’ stores that will meld a global community that is detached from the human experience.

  • Cindy Yau

    • 0
    Mar 12 2013: Climates, physical geography, cultures, and as a result, people, cuisines, society... I feel that thanks to travel and technology, yes, my world has gotten that tiny smidge smaller.
    I remember as a teenager how excited everyone got when my hometown of Carlisle opened its first branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was the new hangout and the only alternative to McDonald’s (which is, like so primary school). So we all flocked to KFC and swapped our McNuggets for Hot Wings. To my teenage self, KFC represented the big city, America and bright lights and big brands – right there, all on my doorstep on a Saturday afternoon.
    My point? Well really it’s a point my brother made first when he was the tender age of nine and I was 12 – “Don’t you think the McDonald’s here in Hong Kong tastes better than the McDonalds back home Cindy?” The things that matter, the details, the flavours which make up our universe, they’re all still unique.
    To my brother, a Big Mac in Hong Kong was a rare treat, something he could have every day (and he did) for two weeks every year and a half we visited our family. The Big Macs from the McDonald’s Drive Thru back in Carlisle? They didn’t cut the mustard (I couldn’t resist). More to the point, Denny’s Hong Kong Big Mac was a symbol of the exotic, of our childhood, of summers running through our grandma’s village. It was part of the bigger picture, it wasn’t the only picture.
    The inherent fear is that the Coca Cola’s of this world can take over local culture now that our world has become so much smaller – but how could this ever affect something so intangible? To do so we’d have to carefully define what is and isn’t an affectation of culture – and who are we to say what a culture is and isn’t?
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      Daniel Raven-Ellison 20+

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      TED AttendeeExplorer
      Mar 13 2013: So, are you thinking that we need to be better at seeing the diversity within what at first appears to be similar?

      • Cindy Yau

        • +1
        Mar 13 2013: In a nutshell, yes. But there are so many other human factors which make the blurring of the lines between what people perceive as 'culture' and 'globalisation' easy. The fact that no two people can walk the exact same path even if they were to travel to the same destinations and taste the same foods should be evidence enough of the subtleties in diversity.

  • Chris Mahn

    • 0
    Mar 12 2013: What we're talking about in a global versus local market will in the future no longer exist. I don't think it can be stopped either. When people of different cultures interact, they 'rub off' on each other, both sides take a little from the other and incorporate it into their culture. Soon, all cultures will become one.

    I’m not trying to sound pessimistic about it, it is what it is. Take America for instance, and I’m sure this applies to all countries, but I will talk from my perspective. This country is an amalgamation of many cultures from around the world, but eventually, no matter where you came from, you will end up being an American. But being an American changes as our culture changes. It’s not a one way street. The amalgamation, the homogenization, if you will, occurs in both directions. Of course, the bigger the sea the less the transfer of culture is a two way street and becomes more of a one way street.

    So now if you come to America, more of America will rub off on you, than you will rub off on her. Till in the end, all will be automatically assimilated. This is respective of everyone’s country, or should be. However, this is occurring on a global basis right now. Sooner or later, it will be one society, with very infinitesimal pockets of cultures from a bygone era. Think Star Trek, where it’s one world and the new culture comes from people from a different solar system.

    I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I do know this, when I travel to a foreign country, I want to experience that culture and enjoy their food. I don’t want to go to Germany and drink Starbucks. I don’t want these experiences to go away. In America, Hollywood spends a lot of time trying to pretend there are no differences between people, either between the sexes, races, or cultures. But I think what makes this planet wonderful are the differences. I don’t think there is anything wrong with differences. They make life colorful and invigorating.

  • Felix Smith

    • 0
    Mar 11 2013: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-10/video-quantum-levitating-hoverboard-lets-students-glide-air-or-magnets and http://thevenusproject.com/en/technology/transportation.. There may be no correlation between the concepts at this time to be honest I thought it was a great concept when i connected those dots in my own mind. Assuming that the potential from the TEDtalk from Boaz Almog where the suggestion is made that a 3 inch disc can hold 70,000 times it's own weight.. in my head that naturally clicked with creating magnetic rails for future trains with no friction resistance? So purely conceptual i'm afraid
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    Tom Morgan-Jones

    • 0
    Mar 11 2013: In 2003 two friends and myself wished to make a political statement and create a forum for discussion about a global subject. We took the subject of the War on Terror and subverted the traditional family board game. We thought it would be a good way to get people talking around a table about an issue that at the time many considered, or where being told by a global media, was too taboo to discuss. We were repeatedly being told we should live in fear and follow the party line. We couldn't afford to make the board game locally in the UK and decided it was worth our while to get the game made in China. If we didn't use the global market then it would have only been an idea. Some criticised us for not making a home grown product. Some criticised us for making it at all. Some people even made death threats, such was the sensitivity of the subject. But we took a gamble and thought the cultural value would be worth it. Since making the game we have been shunned by many 'reputable' business's for tackling this subject in this form, often calling us sick, one quote that still bemuses me made by the Essen toy fair organiser was that it was 'beyond satire'. On the other hand we've received messages and actions of support which have been extremely moving, serving US and UK troops questioning why they are involved in the war, educational establishments putting the game on their syllabuses, art galleries exhibiting the game and families being able discuss the subject of terrorism comfortably in their own home have thanked us. One survivor of a terror attack said "You have turned terrorism into a theme that can be toyed with. And for the first time since my evacuation from the tube 7th July 2005, I have been able to do just that, without having it crawl under my skin. You have no idea how grateful I am." So we used the global market to tackle a global issue. The upshot is, when previously I was sceptical, now I strongly believe both local and global markets have their place.

  • Anne De Santis

    • +1
    Mar 11 2013: All businesses thrive through local relationships. Regardless of how global the brand, it is the individual who serves the public on a daily basis that builds loyalty. In order to succeed, a company must put best practices in place to create consistency of experience and communicate service standards. Once this is achieved, it is TRUST that drives the experience of connection on the ground. Connecting with fellow employees and the individual across the counter is what creates loyalty.

  • Felix Smith

    • 0
    Mar 11 2013: Another small thought, it's quite fascinating to think that there's conceptual trains that use quantum locking to potentially be able to transport a person anywhere in the world within 4 hours.. How do people decide where to stay when they can take a lunch break half away across the planet? I would guess you'd have to focus more on how to get a customer to stay somewhere long enough to enjoy your facilities instead of focusing on advertising for cheap commercial flights?
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      John Gianino

      • 0
      Mar 11 2013: Where is this information about quantum locking trains?

  • Felix Smith

    • 0
    Mar 11 2013: at the moment this is purely theory based on observation but i'm in the conceptual stages of building an app that would provide a easy simple user face for musicians to upload their prefered instrument, skill level, and intention (session musician jams/putting bands together etc). This hopefully would serve to bring together larger local communities and help provide platforms for collaboration.. So far the feedback on the idea is promising and i feel it has potential.. So i guess in essence this kind of available lifestyle can be advertised to portray the kind of cultural climate in an area. This is something perfectly measurable and publishable that could easily be included when demonstrating what's available for customers that are looking to get a change of scenery for a weekend, any thoughts on areas i might be able to expand with type of social project I'd love to hear..

  • José Roberto Sousa Santos

    • 0
    Mar 10 2013: I guess that we choose the places from personal preferences, or through tips from friends. Thus our relations are key this decision.
    People who choose the dark are very rare. This reflects a bit fo distrust we feel with tha estructure the dissemination and sale of holiday packages

  • sam hu

    • 0
    Mar 10 2013: We always think travel can change our views about the world, we will know that the world is much more bigger than we thought and more different than we known, but relatively, the local places can also change the views about the world through the travellers.
    For example, we travel Thailand and we know that ladyboy are common and acceptable there, and the local will know that people outside Thailand have a quite different views about the ladyboy, things they thought were common.
    Even we don't go abroad we can have a connection through the travellers, how they think about us, why they want to travel here,and did anything surprise them after they had come? Travel can not only change the related industries development, but also the city's developing trend.

  • Jamie Ross

    • 0
    Mar 9 2013: As the control of transglobal companies grows the risks for the stability of equality erodes that is why going back to being local is so vital for the survival of jobs and our everyday lives. commercialization would control more than any other governmental power and that is why the Chinese have decided to control that power and export it as a way of controlling resources and land without affecting sovereignty but actually erodes the things that bind those supplying those materials. It is there for vital that if a transnational brand is to survive and not have ever growing anger to profits being taken from there local area to be established as a local only brand and not a transnational or transglobal that mostly works locally with profit given back to the community and helping to bring jobs to areas of conflict around the world.

  • Tom Eccleston

    • +1
    Mar 8 2013: National media and dialogue but smaller towns with more vibrant community culture and activities. I live near LA there is little to no sense of community present. I would like to point out Sweden as a very positive model for this ideal. Vibrant town hall meetings, community discussions, 1 year military service after high school with some grad education in the mix.

  • Felix Smith

    • +1
    Mar 8 2013: if keeping individual cultures in local communities is your aim.. it might be a thought to start endorsing local community research projects.. Often small towns have their own little events, walks through a forest of lights in the night or local festivals for the musicians of local towns. But what if you where to research into the clubs of an area, discover any demographics of people with particular interests. Such as large numbers of musically orientated people in nearby towns, or extreme sports fans, for example you could gather ideas from these communities in what they need to fulfill their desires. i.e a town has a community of skate boarders or free runners; you could hold regular events or training to provide more opportunities, and try something unique and experimental, like integrating architecture that is Parkour friendly in any new developments. Ambitious perhaps but this could potentially support growth of communities within local areas, and also create a lot of diversity between individual areas... All of which will be more accessible when progression in transportation occurs meaning that people could travel around their own countries to experience a diversity in communities, that support all types of people, their hobbies and interests.
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      Daniel Raven-Ellison 20+

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      TED AttendeeExplorer
      Mar 10 2013: These are really interesting ideas. Do you have any specific examples that you can share with us? Any case studies?
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        elizabeth muncey 10+

        • 0
        Mar 10 2013: Can offer you a 'case vignette' rather than a case study but might be of interest. Very lucky to live in Royal Borough of Greenwich, London, U.K. Local tourist and arts infrastructure extremely well developed but reported locally in minimal way in local press 'Greenwich Time' which is distributed free to local population because Greenwich Time is focused on local political and social issues and is effectively viewed as 'propaganda' for the local authority now. The local newspapers South London Mercury and South London Press very compromised as need to sell their titles in order to generate operating revenue. Newish publication now available in several local stores as well as local hotels and tourist attractions called Greenwich Visitor. Not everyone wants to be seen accessing an electronic device such as an i-pad and so a newspaper is hugely effective, pictures and words plus a certain anonymity in that it is not overtly a publication to sell a specific organisation but a certain ?lifestyle of things that might attract a certain way of being and behavimg.

  • Scott Reil

    • +1
    Mar 6 2013: Susanna, as a UK resident you are likely more aware of Transition Town and its principles than many of the rest of us. Don't you think that a lot of the key points of T-Town style infrastructure do just that? I mean, beyond the obvious, like local currency and food production, isn't the concept of an engaged citizenry enough to not just develop, but preserve local flavor? Couple it with an enlarged sense of housepride as it were, and shouldn't that be enough?

    I agree that global needs to be, and should remain part of the mix, but if we all start to "think globally; act locally", sooner or later the latter begins to become the important part of the mix on a personal level. We need to quit selling our culture as a pinnacle of success (if it is so great, why do we travel at all?) as it crushes local culture underfoot. Look at nearly any pictures of Africa nowadays, you are are less likely to see native garb than you are to see the discarded t-shirts from last years SuperBowl loser... exporting our disfunctions worldwide has had ugly effect no matter where you look; the leading cause of death in Africa? Heart disease. Affluenza has hit the Dark Continent, and it could be the burgers, right?

    Starbucks in Paris is a symptom, but the disease is far worse than that... I agree that government COULD be helpful in maintaining culture, but it almost invariably leads to government "creating" and then exporting it, and those are both bad things (governments are not good at either, I think). A hotel chain can try to espouse local, but the best any international corporation can manage is chains of locally themed hotels, which isn't very cost effective as each hotel (to remain true to cause) must inevitably be different. Just swapping "skins" over the same set of bones will eventually come across as disingenuous, because it is... you will know local when you see it, and you will know fake local when you see it, I guarantee...
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      Daniel Raven-Ellison 20+

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      TED AttendeeExplorer
      Mar 8 2013: Hi Scott. I have really enjoyed reading your comment. You have said a lot about what does not work, but I would I'm keen to hear some of your thoughts on what you think does work.

  • rach k

    • 0
    Mar 6 2013: 'Local' for a place or culture would mean its specific characteristics and identity same as a human sense of identity. Taking the analogy further, though brought up in a small distant town in India, I have travelled and lived around the world for more than a decade now. Has the introduction to other cultures changed me? (or any of the many expats we meet?) Do people start living on McDs when they migrate to the states? Probably not. On the contraty, a comparision and conscious rumination of identity actually reinforces some of the rooted belief while giving the strength to give-up superficial customs.
    That too would be the future of Local - in the heat of global competition, sushis and risottos, espaniol and tamil, pandas and elephants of the world might seem vulnerable, but in time will surely, consciously and confidently reinvent themselves to re-establish the local.
    Even Starbucks is endeavouring to reflect local architecture and customs in its interiors. A recent McDs announced near a piligrim site in India will be all veg. Creatives all across the globe are taking inspiration from local ways for innovative solutions.
    There are many challenges in the face of it. But the Potential of Local is that it can define Global and not vice versa.
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    Dorian Knus

    • 0
    Mar 6 2013: Sure. Landscape, climate and history can't be the same but your Q is

    How will travel change local places in the future?
    Franchises and pollution will be the change.

  • Mark Sokolowski

    • 0
    Mar 5 2013: I guess you can go off on verious points with this type of conversation but here are some ideas from me. I have been very interested in identity, relationship, symbols and how they two work together to create reality and thus meaning in our lives internally and externally. The experience of the word "Local" means limited to a particular place. I think a lot of people find comfort in things they attribute the word "Local" to, its a constant, no change, a well known atmosphere. When i travel, i prefer to experience the "Local" of the region i am travelling to, i find it amazing to experience another culture and likewise i know others from other parts of the world feel the same way i do.

    Its our experience of the other "Local" that creates our relationship to our "Local". The modern world has been changing for a long time now and its done that through the use of Symbols. The symbol is where we derive our meaning just look at the apple with a bite taken our of it, or the modern day heiroglyphs we use in our applications, we all know what the envelope means and the little house on the tool bar. its "local to the global"

    I think Diversity is awesome, you can learn and appreciate others as well as yourself. I think that soon, Globally speaking, we will use and understand the basic universal symbols that make us a community, a large local that is made up of our smaller ones. And i think that a company which, lets face it is an entity, will need to define itself and have relationship with all comunities in this global local. The company's identity will be defined by its relationship to the local community and the global. The employees of this organization should also be identified with the symbol that this organization has and the meaning behind it.
    A Symbol is needed that Supports local artists, musicians, entreprenuers (which keep alive the local but ever changing cultural aspect of the local "Local") & likewise supports Global community. my thoughts...

  • Ben Batstone

    • 0
    Mar 5 2013: The increased ease and decreased cost of both travel and communication will work to make the global more local. I think it is a net positive. I am not threatened by the McDonald's of the world because there is a Sushi restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota where I grew up. Imagine that. One of the most land-locked cities in North America, and you can eat raw fish prepared by Japanese immigrants.

    I know kids these days who love eating octopus. 20 years ago, when I was their age, I didn't even know you could eat octopus, much less expect that anyone my age would enjoy it. And yes, they eat McDonalds, and yes, they drink Starbucks - but the breadth of their global knowledge is so far beyond what I grew up with, it is staggering.

    To them, it is local.

    Is there a risk of homoginization? Well, certainly Grand Forks has a sushi shop, but it will never be Japan. And Japan will never be North Dakota. They will transform each other and in that transformation, some things will be lost - but I think if it is worth preserving, it will be. And someday, maybe Japanese youth will all want to play Ice Hokey.

  • Dustin Smith

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    Mar 5 2013: Local is who/what we spend time with. Technology changes who we spend time with, and allows us to choose "our own local." I'm not sure what that will look like though.
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    Dorian Knus

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    Mar 4 2013: Franchises will be everywhere and pollution too. In the end everywhere will be the same...
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      Daniel Raven-Ellison 20+

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      TED AttendeeExplorer
      Mar 5 2013: Everywhere can't be the same! There will always be a certain level of diversity. Landscape, climate and history will all make sure of that. Do you mean certain experiences will feel the same?

  • Tony Hall

    • +2
    Mar 4 2013: I find it slightly ironic that this topic was created by a group named "Intercontinental" :) I think this is a fascinating topic. I teach IB Geography in Singapore. Part of the IB Geography curriculum is a theme called Global Interactions. This topic feeds directly into that, which is great because it will really challenge the thinking of my learners. These kids, despite their "internationality" (is that a word?) lead quite sheltered lives that are essentially focused on Singapore and their home country.
    For me, it also poses other questions:
    What is "local"? Where is "local"? Who is "local"? What are the things that affect our answers to those questions?
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    John Gianino

    • 0
    Mar 4 2013: I always had this fantasy of migrating. Can you imagine traveling with your friends or family to climate zones when they are perfectly suitable for your comfort? Living, a nomadic yet interconnected lifestyle where food sources are always fresh in season. Experiencing adventures in regions that if settled, would be over populated or polluted. Giving the environment a chance to heal because it is left alone for just enough time to recover.

    Have you heard of anyone else wanting to do this?
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    Steve Knight

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    Mar 3 2013: I believe the next big transformation in how we understand "local" will be in personal air travel, which will allow people to re-populate currently remote and unpopulated areas of the world (while still working in and commuting into the major urban centers). NASA's Mark Moore gave a great talk on this at TEDxCharlotte in 2011: http://youtu.be/ajKaRdGcJyM
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