Utopian Design

All design is meant to innovate what came before, right? The seemingly endless furniture of Ikea is meant to replicate the simplicity of classic Scandinavian designs. The ergonomic kitchenware in a house evolves from the basic tool designs from the stone age. What came before, in all regard of design, has now been altered for the better. Now there are several exceptions which encompass timeless capabilities, for example the wheel; the formula for which will always remain intact. We can thank the wheel, however, for a design which has yet to be placed into production but designs for which have been made public for years now.

The plans for a high-speed rail system between northern California and southern California is all but a realization of an inevitability if all the cards fall in all the right places. This form of transportation promises safe and efficient travel from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles in less than three hours. This train allows the population an alternative to flight and/or a tedious drive well over seven hours. A regular passenger train can be taken but would have to make stops along it's route, all along the while traveling at a far reduced speed compared to this high-speed train.

I remember walking from class to class at my junior college a couple years back and having spokespeople for this proposed idea stop me in my tracks and ask for donations to make this utopian dream become a reality. I have yet to hear anything in the news about construction commencing but the website provided, http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/, includes a plethora of information on the idea.

This high-speed rail would be a true utopian innovation in the world of design, allowing California to connect it's northern and southern regions in less than three hours. People frightened of flight and too impatient for a long car ride would deem this proposition a step in the right direction for uniting this golden state.