With the rise of industrialization we have had access to a higher quality standard of living than ever before. However, this progress has also come at great environmental cost around the world. Until this time, Progress has been tied with the rise of GDP, wealth creation and economic gains. As we enter a new economy, and with it, a new social understanding. What is the meaning of Progress?

We have built millions of suburbs, and pioneered a new form of living that promises it all. Space to play and barbecue in the backyard, safe streets, and a garage for all the extra stuff we don't really need. 

Suburbs promised an idyllic life, but that dream of idealism was too superficial for the human reality. Living isolated existences in cookie cutter houses squelches our human individuality into a space of loneliness and shallowness. The suburbs breed another bored generation of comfort seekers not aspiring for a greater human existence of belonging and connection. 

Our political and economic leaders love to tell us how 'Everything is Under Control'. Hundreds of thousands are living in poverty and are facing crises of daily existence. Our economy is based on algorithms and ticker tape that can suddenly falter with millions of dollars and jobs lost overnight. Abroad, we take comfort in spending billions on defence to prepare for absurd doomsday scenarios. This reality is almost laughable.

What is truly under control? And what mechanisms and issues has this desire for control then brought us? 

We have built police forces as a means to protect us from criminals. Accompanying the police we have built a massive system of laws, regulations, and enforcement all built for our own safety. However, somewhere along the way this supposed good will has been turned around. 

The police have become predators to those living in poverty, while white collar criminals who blatantly ignore financial laws go free. As we have seen in Ferguson, police forces ticket for their own financial gain. And then call in their surplus military gear to defend their own power when it is threatened. Is this what it means to serve and protect? The police should answer: Yes, to serve and protect our power. 

What does Freedom mean when the only place we can earn enough money to enjoy our freedom is in an office tower? If freedom means wearing a suit and tie then what does individual expression look like?

We are not all free while some of us live under a yoke of oppression. We cannot all be bankers, and nor should we all be. We need cashiers in our grocery stores and we need artists. The poor should not be punished for being poor, and the office environment need not be so stifling for individual expression. 

Submit your own photos by tagging @cdcnewyork on Instagram!