Design cities for people, not cars
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I’m a fan of being able to walk to your destination be it work, grocery store, or the corner coffee shop. Unfortunately I live in Texas where it is generally not a possibility. I live in the state where we like to live miles away from each other have big yards so as to not be too near our neighbors. The concept of a city designed around people does not allude me however. Residing in one does.
If you have never read it, I highly recommend you check out celsias.com - a blog about the environment. There is a very nice article entitled “Designing cities for People, Rather than Cars“. It really makes you think about the role of our cities and what we’ve done to them and society in the process. Here is an excerpt:
Parks and public space are also important to a democratic society because they are the only places where people meet as equals..In a city, parks are as essential to the physical and emotional health of a city as the water supply.” He notes this is not obvious from most city budgets, where parks are deemed a luxury. By contrast, “roads, the public space for cars, receive infinitely more resources and less budget cuts than parks, the public space for children. Why,” he asks, “are the public spaces for cars deemed more important than the public spaces for children?
In James Howard Kunstler’s view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Check out his speech below.
What do you think? Is your city designed for people or is it designed for cars. Comment in. We’re interested to know
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Looks like my youtube/google video plugin doesn’t handle “-” in the docId. I originally had a Google Video embeded, but it didn’t work. I’ve updated with the youtube version.