City's coexistence
For this week's blog, I want to write something from my experience instead of writing about the readings for the week or the lecture. I got to travel to Paris this spring break. Interestingly, this was a week of protests and riots in Paris. The public squares had countless numbers of police watching for protesters. A parade of Police cars with a siren was seen every evening. The trains stopped as a part of the protest. The sidewalks were full of trash cans as the garbage collectors refused to collect them as a symbol of protest. These public spaces like sidewalks, squares, and train stations have an identity and their own purpose in an urban environment. When people want to voice their opinion, these spaces will be used for a different purpose, just like in Paris. Architecture and Urban environments designed around people will respond to such needs of the mass. The city still was able to function generally amidst the protests. Schoolkids went to school and came back just as any day. The bakery got its day's delivery of bread. This coexistence of a perfectly running city and the voices of the protesters in an urban environment is commendable and something to be desired. All cities strive to have this potential of accommodating the voices while functioning normally.
Jerome, its interesting that you got to experience the coexistence of these environments. As we have seen in the past, this is not always the case but I do agree that their coexistence is commendable when the space allows for it.
ReplyDeleteJerome, cool you got to see these protests first hand and experience the city like that. I would've been a little nervous in your situation but very cool that the rest of the city was functioning
ReplyDeleteJerome I find this very interesting that during your trip you experience these riots in Paris. I wonder how much this has to do with development of Paris vs the culture of Paris. I feel like France is much different than the U.S. in regards to creating community where people gather together to protest for such long extended periods of time. Maybe the built environment has something more to do with creating culture of community rather than simply giving a space for those to protest? I say this because protests don't last extremely long in the U.S. in many instances except extreme instances such as George Floyd while protests in Paris seem to go on much longer. This may be an incorrect assumption, but I feel that the development of Paris has more to do with creating a community than giving a space for those to protest.
ReplyDeleteIt's fascinating to read about your experience in Paris during a week of protests and riots. The way public spaces like sidewalks and train stations were repurposed for protesting shows the adaptability of urban environments designed around people's needs. It's impressive how the city was still able to function amidst the protests, with schoolkids going to school and the bakery receiving its daily delivery of bread. This coexistence of a functioning city and the voices of the protesters is something to be commended and desired in all cities.
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