Well, I’m back to Toronto after my holiday. I had mentioned in my last post that I had visited Quebec’s museum of civilization — where they had an exhibit on the future of cities around the world.

The exhibit is called Urbanopolis, and is a especially apropos since it’s the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. Within Urbanopolis, there are several models of potential future cities, including New York, Chicago and Quebec City — all of which are projected out 100 years to the beginning of the 22nd century.

Looking back at some of the projections people have made about where we would be at the beginning of the 21st century, it would seem that while such projections are an interesting exercise, they don’t necessarily always pan out to be true.

One example I found particularly interesting was in the Quebec City model, where the model’s architects had mentioned that street corners would be transformed into physical and virtual meeting places. Technology, therefore, would transform our streets into places where we can better interact with those around us.

While this is a very cool idea, I don’t know that I can necessarily be as optimistic. Especially in cities, it would seem that technology simultaneously plays both a divisive and unifying role — allowing us to keep in better contact with those we know, but also allowing us to shut out those immediately around us.

Take mobile phones for example. I, for one, have all kinds of potential distractions on my mobile phone — texting or calling friends or family, playing games, reading email or listening to music. In this case, while technology may strengthen my existing relationships (that is, if I choose to call a friend or family member instead of play Tetris), it may keep me from chatting with my neighbour on the bus (and creating a new relationship).

Choosing to strengthen an existing relationship over creating a new relationship is not an intrinsically bad choice per se, it’s merely a choice. We should always remain cautious however, of the assumption that improved technologies will lead to a state of blissful and spontaneous collaboration and connection.