@AaronBastani The overall aesthetic of the built environment is a vital component of neighbourhood wellbeing. However, utilities for building services, heating/cooling, seem to be an afterthought; they should be integral to the design.
Europe spent 20 years believing regulations could replace growth, moral signaling could replace strategy, and dependence on rivals was “post-national sophistication.”
You cannot regulate yourself into prosperity. You cannot outsource security forever. You cannot stay geopolitically relevant while punishing productivity and cheap energy.
Europe still has incredible talent, culture, and infrastructure. But unless policies change dramatically, the 21st century will remember Europe less as a power center and more as an open-air museum with good healthcare.
The craziest part is that Europeans themselves know this. Ask any engineer, founder, or skilled worker under 35 where they want to move. The answer is increasingly America, Dubai, Singapore, or anywhere taxes and bureaucracy don’t suffocate ambition.
Is Europe a hopeless case, or can it leave left green ideology behind and thrive again?