I was recently going through some articles I had saved, and came across an op-ed piece that Deyan Sudjic, architectural writer and director of the Design Museum in the UK, had published in the Guardian newspaper on March 8,2008. The op-ed piece was about the continuing movement of the world's population to cities, but I was most struck by two tangential statements Sudjic made about the nature of cities and those who govern them:
"A city is an a la carte menu. That is what makes it different from a village, which has little room for tolerance or difference. And a great city is one in which as many people as possible can make the widest choices from its menu."
"Politicians love cranes; they need solutions within the time frames of elections and cranes deliver them. But there are only a limited number of problems that are susceptible to this kind of time scale."
3 comments:
David, What struck you about those two statements? Please expand! Christine
Thank you for asking.
Even though the first statement is really just a poetic restatement of central place theory, I liked the poetic part -- the menu metaphor, and its connection with how I experience city life. I think of the few options for dining out in the town where I live, and the wonderful array of restaurants in nearby Providence, but I still have to go to Boston to get a Vietnamese sub.
The second statement is a difficult truth for me, someone who was trained as an engineer, and who has had the opportunity to work on one of the most notable (for good and bad reasons) engineering projects in the country -- the Big Dig. It is exciting to me (as well as to the politicians) when the cranes are going up. But what does it really change? It also seems especially apt as government entities at all levels around the country clamor for the stimulus manna.
Tell me about the Big Dig...is that related to the tunnel in Boston that collapsed? Sorry about my ignorance...I see your point exactly, it is exciting to see the cranes going up, or any "beginning" of something. It makes us feel like things will get better, satisfies people's sense of accomplishment. But it only means something if the end (intended) result is achieved. -Christine-
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