The importance of sharing our human rights.
"If the city is a world which man created, it is the world in which he is henceforth condemned to live. Thus, indirectly, and without any clear sense of the nature of this task, in making the city man has remade himself." - Robert Park, The Right to the City
Several times in class the question has arisen about architecture's influence over culture (and the opposite). I think Robert Park got it right, both transform each other as a result of how humans adapt to what they have made. Architecture is a reflection of culture. As we live in that architecture we learn from what we have made, catalyzing changes in how we live.
"No normal person can spend his life in some artificial haven, and this includes children. Everyone must use the streets." - Jane Jacobs
That being said, we do have a shared responsibility for the city, namely the sidewalks (public spaces). As we change our built environment, we need to carefully consider how this will affect our culture. David Harvey touches on how this has worked over time (in city planning) Haussman's Paris -> Moses' NYC (which lead to nation-wide highways) -> Jane Jacobs.
Let's take the example of suburbanization and the highways that made all that possible. Once upon a time highways were helping us invent a new lifestyle, the american dream. Houses had plenty of yard space and the driveway had 1-2 cars parked out front. This all sounds great. But the unexpected outcomes of all this are uncountable. Now, generations of people have been able to live in this neat little incubator that insulates us from other people and problems of the world. This type of lifestyle we made for ourselves eliminated any type of shared responsibility we once had when we all lived in densely populated areas. Our compassion and understanding for others has diminished. We have made an introverted world for ourselves that needs fixing.
So the challenge lies with us: How do we recover our collective human right?
I think the best way to recover the human right to connect with others (aka reversing the highway's changes) is by creating opportunity in more dense areas. If moving to a downtown apartment makes life easier overall because of all the resources provided (work, leisure, etc), people will be encouraged to make the change themselves. On the flip side, if we try to force this change by running a strong defense against suburban growth, there is likely going to be a strong push back from the communities we are hoping to impact. People have acclimated to this new way of introverted life and change needs to be an intentional, gradual change.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Kindall and Sarah. I feel like our generation of young people somehow subconsciously realize this need. Most people I know our age are moving to denser areas instead of going back to the suburbs where they grew up. Whether for the amenities of the city or the proximity to jobs, people are making the move themselves without anyone forcing this change. There has to be a way to harness this drive, or encourage it, in order to more formally introduce the shared socioeconomic benefits of living in the city. Just the way that our parent's and grandparent's generations were acclimated to the suburbs, I believe our generation has the opportunity to influence how we and our children think of this "collective human right" and its relationship to the city.
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