Clip From An Ailing Thesis
The best urban environments are walking cities the benefit greatly from a diverse range of elements all occupying the same space. New York, Rome, Barcelona: these are the homes of the flaneur as we know him, but we must not forget that a flaneur is a farmer with different shoes. The wanderer, the walker, the one who experiences the environment around him with glee-- this person exists in the forrest of sky scrapers and brownstones equally as well as the vistas and oaks of Small Towns everywhere. It is under this light that the link between urbanity and ruralism becomes clear. Structurally urbanism is more alienated from the suburban than from the rural environment. The rural and the urban are modes of working with a limited given and applying ones means in an efficient manner. Typically this plays itself out in terms of limited urban space and unavailable rural funds. Can we develop a strategy for transitioning directly from the rural to the urban? How do we ensure that our cities do not forget the frugality of their rural roots and develop accordingly as they expand?
--Posted 05/08/04 02:06AM