Congestion Control

I found the “Culture of Congestion” reading quite interesting and the idea of how we tend to encourage congestion, yet people still want to get further and further away from the congestion. There’s something magical about cities, yet they can feel so cold and intimidating. When walking through the city and these massive concrete beasts towering above you, it can be intimidating. Especially knowing the higher the floor, the higher the power (typically speaking.) But, why is it that the rules change as you go vertically and horizontally out from the center of congestion? In a sense they will have to, but why isn’t there more modes of horizontal circulation through the congestion? Is it possible to even implement something like this in the states, or is everyone too “this is mine, that’s yours?”

On the topic of Coney Island – as we play as children we pretend, play “make-believe”, and so as adults, we’re required to sacrifice this world of imagination? In a society focused on consumerism and capitalism, the pressure to “keep up with the Joneses,” reality can be A LOT sometimes – more for some than others – but especially in an area as bustling as Manhattan. But, is removing reality and replacing it with a manicured and manufactured reality really the answer?