Future Community is the imagining of a better community that drives innovation in community development and governance. Over the past 40 years, “low-carbon communities, smart communities, resilient communities, and entire communities” have successively become the realistic forms of “future communities”(FCs). The practice of FC development has four paths: technology-oriented, neighborhood-oriented, function-oriented, and comprehensive oriented. Although the technology-oriented path attaches great importance to the empowerment of digital technology, it easily descends into technological determinism. The neighborhood-oriented path seeks to achieve neighborhood rejuvenation, but ignores the economic foundation it is rooted in. The function-oriented path helps strengthen the specific functions of the community, but it adds little to other elements such as diverse participation and community. The comprehensive oriented path still requires long-term consideration. The ideal FC is a community where “everyone is free and comfortable, life is convenient and healthy, neighbors love to watch, and public affairs are enjoyed independently.” FCs will be realized in three steps. First, in the near term, current problems must be met with solutions and a complete community must be created. In the medium term, a multi-participatory community must form. Finally, in the long term, the community must become connected with “people and property rights, people and people, and people and public affairs” such that these connections become an organic part of a “community of free individuals.”
