“No recipe for urban funk”
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Common Ground in a Liquid City: Essays in Defense of an Urban Future by Matt Hern
This book offers a rare viewpoint: a thoughtful inner-city leftist who understands both New Urbanism and capitalism (and apportions the blame correctly), Vancouver and the world, direct action and policy prescriptions. A useful tool for focusing my own thoughts on density and diversity, and how they combine to create interesting, humane places. (Some, like architect Neal Payton*, add a third D of design, but sometimes I think that enough of the first two can counterbalance even the worst design.)
* Not my namesake, even though by strange coincidence I was named in LA, where he lives. His last name was anglicized generations ago.
Bad design/planning is the exact reason we are in this mess (qualifier: I design). Dense environments are only sustainably livable if designed properly (see Dharavi and Khayelitsha). Nonetheless, this book is now atop my wish list! Thanks for the recommendation.
Thanks for the shoutout. Yes, I do think Design is the third leg of a three-legged stool, but hey, show me examples that stand just fine with only two legs, and I will change my tune.
You’re quite welcome, Neal.
In almost all North American contexts, we’re certainly best off promoting the three-legged DDD stool. In some other contexts — like this boring little mall stuck underneath a bunch of sterile apartment towers in Hong Kong — hyperdensity creates diversity, even in a design vacuum. It may be ugly, it may be neither flexible nor durable, but it somehow works.