Future City Sketches
A public notebook exploring leverage points in civic systems.
Essays
Published on Substack. Open an essay to see the videos and shorts that go with it.
Video essays
Longer videos on YouTube. The ballot questions video is split into chapters, one for each proposal.
Shorts
Short videos posted to YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, grouped by topic.
The Induced Possibility Loop
Infrastructure shapes behavior, behavior becomes norm, norms reshape mental models, and new mental models produce new infrastructure.
- 1Infrastructure
- 2Behavior
- 3Norm
- 4Mental model
- 5New infrastructure
New infrastructure starts the loop again
Spread
The same infrastructure appears in new locations.
Deepening
Supporting systems emerge around the behavior.
Imagination
The underlying design logic gets applied to new domains.
When the loop gets stuck and existing infrastructure keeps reproducing itself, I call that an ontological monopoly.
Jack Neiberg
Exploring ideas and experiments for human, ecological, and institutional flourishing in NYC. Work in gov, opinions are my own.
Future City Sketches is my public notebook to explore the complex system of governance, infrastructure, and design that makes up New York City.