8.30.2010

the why.

I resent expanses of urban space that are useless to me; spaces beyond function; beyond people. I want beauty and purpose in walkable, workable avenues. I see commerce dovetailed with architecture old and new, and skylines that expand our sense of nature. I want stuff for the senses in the places we use; a city unafraid of unfolding to meet its working and living people with forethought and a desire to be what it should.

And when I’ve begun, I’ll walk though my city, warmed by the details and mobilized by the design. I’ll declare that planning spaces requires aesthetic right where it functions. I will explore those sad, unknown pockets and give them reasons to live, inviting the pulse of people who will both use and enjoy them. I will make use of sonorous things, with wide angles where echoes ping and where people stand inside, in sunlight, bathed and sheltered as they move. I’ll demand green places in the coldest concrete avenues, and open dead houses the way a new baby opens her eyes, letting light in and bringing life to whole communities.