That is overwhelming. Can you imagine the collapse and devastation if thee were a natural disaster? There is so much more at stake and so much upkeep. But oh how efficient looking.
I agree it is overwhelming. I always have a mixed reaction to the idea of putting everyone stacked on top of each other. I'm a country girl. I grew up on 10 acres surrounded by protected Crown Land. I like space and am used to it. At the same time I am swayed by the notion of increasing density to leave more arable land available to agriculture as well as parkland. Having our food sources closer to where we live, having more open green space which absorbs heat from the sun and rainfall keeping more fresh water in our aquifers... but I like having a backyard of my own. I think most people do. I think it would take a huge shift in our culture to make us more comfortable with less personal space. To be more comfortable with the notion of shared space. Imagine living in a building that had 250 units. Your building is surounded by a park that takes up a city block. In the park, there is a playground, a community vegetable garden, lot's of trees, some flower gardens for those who like to garden and a picnic/barbeque area with some patio tables etc. All things are shared by the folks in the building. Could this work? Would we be more community oriented because of this? Or could it only work if we were already more community oriented?
Well I think this concern of space and how much we have is very central to America. In Asia, they've been neck-deep in lack of space for a very long time and have already learned to adapt to having a narrower personal space. I think us North Americans have so much damn space we have no idea what to do with it. However, that being said, I think we are (slowly) adapting to having very fixed amount of personal space as we continue to see more and more urbanization. Maybe in 10 years we, too, will be measuring our rooms with tatami mats.
I think this hypothetical city layout would be interesting to explore, however. My one concern is the toxicity of gases emitted from cars and trucks on the lower levels. Sounds like a massacre caused by carbon monoxide waiting to happen.
Very interesting stuff, but how come no one took argument with the headline --why did this never get realized? One could argue this feverishly. Is it govt irresponsibility? Corporate? Citizen apathy? Or bad design? Harvey Corbett's planning was not an obscure event ---it was front page debate for two decades.
That is overwhelming. Can you imagine the collapse and devastation if thee were a natural disaster? There is so much more at stake and so much upkeep. But oh how efficient looking.
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ReplyDeleteI agree it is overwhelming. I always have a mixed reaction to the idea of putting everyone stacked on top of each other. I'm a country girl. I grew up on 10 acres surrounded by protected Crown Land. I like space and am used to it. At the same time I am swayed by the notion of increasing density to leave more arable land available to agriculture as well as parkland. Having our food sources closer to where we live, having more open green space which absorbs heat from the sun and rainfall keeping more fresh water in our aquifers... but I like having a backyard of my own. I think most people do. I think it would take a huge shift in our culture to make us more comfortable with less personal space. To be more comfortable with the notion of shared space.
ReplyDeleteImagine living in a building that had 250 units. Your building is surounded by a park that takes up a city block. In the park, there is a playground, a community vegetable garden, lot's of trees, some flower gardens for those who like to garden and a picnic/barbeque area with some patio tables etc. All things are shared by the folks in the building. Could this work? Would we be more community oriented because of this? Or could it only work if we were already more community oriented?
Well I think this concern of space and how much we have is very central to America. In Asia, they've been neck-deep in lack of space for a very long time and have already learned to adapt to having a narrower personal space. I think us North Americans have so much damn space we have no idea what to do with it. However, that being said, I think we are (slowly) adapting to having very fixed amount of personal space as we continue to see more and more urbanization. Maybe in 10 years we, too, will be measuring our rooms with tatami mats.
ReplyDeleteI think this hypothetical city layout would be interesting to explore, however. My one concern is the toxicity of gases emitted from cars and trucks on the lower levels. Sounds like a massacre caused by carbon monoxide waiting to happen.
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ReplyDeleteVery interesting stuff, but how come no one took argument with the headline --why did this never get realized? One could argue this feverishly. Is it govt irresponsibility? Corporate? Citizen apathy? Or bad design? Harvey Corbett's planning was not an obscure event ---it was front page debate for two decades.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, Dubai almost looked as if it was going to go somewhere along this ostentatious route. ;)
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