The first question in the study/science of city design is regarding the basis for measuring the functionality of a particular society/nation/civilization.


QUESTION: What is the best way to measure prosperity/functionality/success/efficiency of a social economy?
IOW: What basis can we use to determine how well a society is functioning, how successful a society is, or how prosperous a society is?

I would like to know different people's opinions on what qualities they look at in determining how propserous a society is.

IMO: In my long experience of city design, I have determined that the first and foremost way to measure how prosperous a civilization/society is would be to first determine a purpose for society. What is the purpose of a civilization? Once we understand the purpose of a civilization, we can measure how well the civilization is fulfilling that purpose. I have decided that the purpose of civilization is to nurture the individual. Because the state of the Earth environment plays an important role in nurturing the individual, it would be more accurate for me to say that the purpose of civilization is to nurture the individual and the environment. With this in mind, we can move on to determine how to measure how well the individual and the environment is being nurtured. Therefore, in order to measure how efficient a society is, we must have a basis for measuring how well the individual and the environment is nurtured.

The only obligation of the individual is to refrain from violating the human right of other individuals. Beyond this, the individual has no inherent obligation to anybody. This freedom from obligation is the basis for true "Social Freedom". "Social Freedom" is total freedom with the only exception that the individual is not free to violate the human rights of others. It is in fact this lack of freedom to violate the human rights of others that allows the individual to possess true "Social Freedom". (There is more to this including lack of freedom to cause harm upon the environment and democratic basis for determining human rights.) IMPORTANT: If a society/social system (institution) imposes any obligation upon the individual beyond the obligation to respect the human rights of others, the institution is in violation of the individual's "Social Freedom".

Why does CS always use the term "the individual"? All individuals are different in many ways which makes for great diversity. However, it is important that the term "the individual" is used when describing ethical rights and standards for all members of civilization equally.

1. There is the individual and the institution.

2. The only purpose, and therefore the full obligation of the institution is to nurture the individual and the environment. Therefore, the efficiency of the institution which can be also called the success/prosperity of the society is measured by its ability to fulfill its obligated purpose.

3. An individual's freedom of choice without any social imposition of obligation to society (other than respecting this freedom for others) is what makes an individual free.


COMMUNISM
Communists believe that each person is obligated to contribute to society. This belief is actually detrimental in society’s capability to fulfill its purpose. If the individual does not have the choice, the individual cannot be said to be free. Many people who call themselves capitalists are actually communists even though they refuse to see themselves as communists. Americans who beg for more jobs and get upset at others who refuse to contribute to the madness are actually the most communist culture I have ever met.


DETERIORATION LIFESTYLE AND CAPITALISM
When a civilization has a very weak understanding of the science of city design, it is incapable of city design efficiency. With the understanding of the science of city design, we know that the efficiency of a city design is based on the city’s ability to nurture the individual and the environment. Without this basic foundational understanding of city design, cities are design with very low levels of efficiency. In other words, cities are design wit very low levels of efficiency in nurturing the individual and the environment. In fact, they are design with high levels of deterioration of the environment, human health, and ultimately the self. The capitalist lifestyle of deterioration is a lifestyle that depletes/deteriorates the environment, deteriorates our physical health, and ultimately deteriorates the self. We are no longer healthy individuals in a healthy environment of freedom, we are cogs in a machine destroying the earth in order to consume products and material possessions that make us sick, and ultimately destroy our individuality.


SOLUTIONS
It is because the science of city design is able to acknowledge the purpose of civilization to nurture the individual and the environment, problems are easy to assess. There is a fine line between art and science. The art of city design or the science of city design? Skill is a measurement of capability in an area. While a painter might have great skill in painting great works, a computer engineer might have great skill in engineering computer motherboards or new and improved devices. This is a start of a new area for the highest skilled city designers to design the most efficient cities that specifically nurture the environment and the individual, turn around the current elite who are obsessed with maintaining a tight grip on the current system that affords them a lifestyle of destructive extravagance, and manifest continually improving city designs? Is city design about designing the ideal city/utopia? Yes and no. Designs MUST be empirically tested. While a design in theory might seem great, we will not know until we implement it. Once we implement a design, we can measure its efficiency, assess flaws, and make improvements. The science of city design is not as much about designing the ideally efficient city in which all are free and happy, but more about moving towards that ideal. America is a dystopia, whose forefathers happened to be the greatest city design scientists/idealists of their era. Its time for a new era, and more of a scientifically practical approach that incorporates greater safeguards against corruption. While we will never say corruption is inevitable, we will say that better and better designs make for solutions to prevent, expose, and disseminate various forms of corruption.

What is corruption? A deep understanding of corruption is an integral part of city design science. While humans might get sick, computers might get viruses, cities get can become infected with corruption that can have a detrimental effect on a city’s ability to fulfill its purpose of nurturing the individual and the environment. One of the main reasons why corruption is able to spread is the false belief that it is inevitable. As long as people believe corruption is inevitable, they will not lift a finger against it, and it will continue to be inevitable. Another reason is fear. People are afraid that if they fight corruption, harm may come to them. Solutions for this are simple. An understanding of corruption and self deception must be fundamental in the educentric city design.
(I created educentricism which means that all city designs revolve around education/academics. Not academics as we know it under the academic industrial complex, but the concept that a city must be an educational institution in order for it to prosper as defined by our basis for measuring prosperity.)

...IMPORTANT: If a society/social system (institution) imposes any obligation upon the individual beyond the obligation to respect the human rights of others, the institution is in violation of the individual's "Social Freedom". So taxes for schools is wrong? (especially for childless persons)?
...2. The only purpose, and therefore the full obligation of the institution is to nurture the individual and the environment. Therefore, the efficiency of the institution which can be also called the success/prosperity of the society is measured by its ability to fulfill its obligated purpose. ...

COMMUNISM
Communists believe that each person is obligated to contribute to society. This belief is actually detrimental in society’s capability to fulfill its purpose. If the individual does not have the choice, the individual cannot be said to be free. Many people who call themselves capitalists are actually communists even though they refuse to see themselves as communists. Americans who beg for more jobs and get upset at others who refuse to contribute to the madness are actually the most communist culture I have ever met. This seems very disjoint / rambling to me. I do not know what you are saying but it give me the opportunity to make an observation about communism, Cuban style:

Unlike many long term rulers, Castro did not seem to be exploiting the state to build up his bank accounts out side of the counrty he ruled basically as a popular dictator. As he first seized power he lead to considerable economic distruction - but the first farm he burned was the one he had inherited.

In general, I think he wanted to help liberate the cuban people from a truely terrible, explotative dictator, Batesta. He did do some good. - The success of Cuban medical schools is well known. (Even Americans have gotten their MD degrees there.) The adult litercy program was a model for the world and very sucessful, but the economy Castro made was a disaster, and not just because of the US embargo.

Here are some facts related to his 49 year reign*:
Exports drop from $3.6e9 to 3.2e9 while imports soared from $3.3e9 to 10.8e9dollars annually. This caused a great increase in the per capita national debt. It increased under Castro for $49 to ~$3000 per person. Despite the medical advances, infant mortality rate climbed to moved Cuba from 25th to the 13th highest in the world. Cuba, pre-Castro, had the 2nd highest car ownership in South America, but now Cuba is in 9th position. Pre-castro there were 58 independant newspapars, now there are 17, all owned and controlled by the government. Per-capita income rank in South America fell from 4th to 29th !

Thus once again, central direction, rent controls, managed economy, etc of extreme socialism or communism has proven to be a disaster for its people. This insipte of what I think was a government under Castro that was actually trying to "do good" for the Cuban people.

China seems to have found a better way compared to both communism and capitalism. The state directs and funds the major infrastructure items: transportation systems, dams, power plants, schools, financial systems (but that did not work as well as it should, so China is making it more market oriented with less support of failing state businesses, etc.) while Adam's Smith's "invisible hand" freely guides the things that have shorter time and financial scales, like the decision of a farmer to plant rice or raise pigs etc.

Now that China is trying to get rid of corruption and cleaning up the environment, (increasingly important to the CCP) - expect China to prosper even more rapidly while US and EU sink into depression.

I do not know if China has the best system of urban planning and is on it way to becoming the highest material standards or not, (very hard to do for 1.3 billion people on the very finite Earth.) but they are rapidly moving in that direction. Only time will tell.
-----------------
*This data is from VEJA, sort of Brazil's "Time magazine" - the current issue with Castro on the cover.