In his book Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas states:
In terms of urbanism, this indeterminacy means that a particular site can no longer be matched with any single pre-determined purpose, From now on each metropolitan lot accommodates - in theory at least - an unforeseeable and unstable combination of simultaneous activities, which makes architecture less an act of foresight than before and planning an act of only limited prediction. It has become impossible to ‘plot’ culture. (Koolhaas 85)
But what does this statement actually mean? The goal of this paper is to clear that question up, what does this intricately worded quote mean?
This quote could mean a wide variety of things, but for the purposes of this paper I am going to simplify it a
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Small towns all across the United States see the phenomena of recycled spaces every day. In my hometown carious old Churches are now Community Centers, the old self-serve car wash is now a Dollar Tree, an old house is now a quaint Shoppe and a small restaurant, and the old grain warehouse is now my parent’s gunsmith shop and home.
I believe that changes like these come from fluctuations on the population. It seems that Americans go through phases, when they are young and in their prime, they want to live in the big city, which causes a smaller towns population to decrease which therefore causes businesses to go out of business therefore leaving buildings vacant. But then as they get older, the city becomes too hectic, so they move back into the small towns to live the simple life, which then causes people to build things in buildings that they were not intentionally created for. I guess in this way you could think of rural areas as becoming more urban in their way of
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For small towns the recycling of spaces is almost a necessity. In many rural areas, keeping the local nature intact is very high on the priority list. Many towns do not want their canyons, deserts, prairies, lakes, and forest to be destroyed, so they encourage people that instead of building a whole new establishment, to use already developed land and either build on to the previous structure or create a home on land that is not new. It seems as though many small towns have a plethora of abandoned or vacant lots, by fault either of the economy or the constant change in the human
The answer is gentrification. Gentrification is the restoration or improvement of run-down urban areas by the middle class to accommodate their way of life and is prevalent all across the United States in cities such as Portland, Seattle, and Atlanta to
Now, a normal sized town contains fast-food joints, supermarkets, malls, and superstores, but a small town lacks that appeal. The small-town could be the most beautiful landscape known to man, but lack the necessary luxuries in life that a typical American would benefit from. Carr and Kefalas make this statement that emphasizes the town’s lack of appeal, “Indeed the most conspicuous aspects of the towns landscape may be the very things that are missing; malls, subdivisions, traffic and young people” (26). The authors clearly state that they realize that towns, such as the Heartland, are hurting because of the towns’ lack of modernization. For all intents and purposes, the town’s lack of being visually pleasing is driving away probable citizens, not only the native youth, and possible future employee’s away from a possible internship with the town. The citizens with a practice or business hurt from the towns inability to grow up and change along with the rest of the world, yet the town doesn’t realize what bringing in other businesses could potentially do for their small town. Creating more businesses such as malls, superstores and supermarkets would not only drive business up the roof, but it’ll also bring in revenue and draw the
In Kurt Vonnegut’s essay “1983: New York,” Vonnegut makes the bold statement of comparing those with addictions, namely alcoholics and gamblers, to those who are “addicted” to the practice of war preparation. He claims that both preparers of war and gamblers alike, “are ravenous for situations that will cause their bodies to release exciting chemicals into their bloodstreams” (297). Even though this may be true, it can be argued that the chemicals released in the body of a war preparer come from something entirely different than an addiction. These people fascinated with the art of war are born with this fixation, unlike those with an addiction, who are able to cure their disease.
Ellis portray New York as a city where it is horrible to live, filled with homeless men,
Lately I have noticed numerous abandoned buildings around the Battle Creek area; the sight makes our city look run down and cheap. I believe something must be done about this issue such as turning the buildings into new city attractions. Two vacant buildings that come to mind are the run down State Police Station and the dilapidated Family Fare store.
In this means, what is suburbanization? As indicated by my exploration and studies around there of history I can without a doubt recognize that suburbanization is on an extremely fundamental level the term used to depict the physical advancement of the city at the urban-commonplace fringe, or basically the edges of the city. This in
At the very backbone of the body of reasons for which sprawl has accelerated so much in recent decades is the changing social culture in America. One must remember that sprawl is all about people, and one of the greatest factors that drive the trends of their behavior is culture. It is true that there are many other factors (I.E. economic) at play in the manifestation of sprawl, but the factor of culture is what lies at the very core of the entire issue. This core is the argument that Americans have gradually moved toward a socially and individually isolated culture. Essentially, the American community has become more disjointed and impermanent, creating an atmosphere in which living in a more dense population has become undesirable.
Because of the amount of overdeveloped areas that are now vacant, the desire to renovate old vacant properties and land plots has all but disappeared. What if there was a beneficial solution to unused land plots in need of rehab and redesign? What if, instead of paving over every leftover inch of grass and dirt in urban areas to make room for more parking for our daily commuting polluters, we instead reinvent that land for a purpose that is both beneficial to our
The urban world is about things that are going on within the cities, and the differ...
It started with a governmental incentive of getting America out of the Great Depression. Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) was “signed into law by FDR, designed to serve urban needs” (Jackson, 196). This law protected homeownership, not only that, “it introduced, perfected, and proved in practice the feasibility of the long-term, self-amortizing mortgage with uniform payments spread over the whole life of the debt” (Jackson, 196). Because of this new law, it was cheaper to buy a house than rent. Then came the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that encouraged citizens to reside in new residential developments and/or areas with FHA-approved features, like Levittown. Mass-produced cars and cheap gasoline made the option of moving to a suburban area more of a reality for many families because now they can think to live such a lifestyle. With cars, come commuters who needs accessible roads to drive to and from work, to go grocery shopping, etc. which mean that the government need to pave roads for such commute to happen. “The urban expressways led to lower marginal transport costs and greatly stimulated deconcentration,” (Jackson, 191). As Jackson expressed, “The appeal of low-density living over time and across regional, class, and ethnic lines was so powerful that some observers came to regard it as natural and inevitable,” (190). Urban areas were becoming too crowded, too heterogeneous, more and more crimes were breaking out everyday; this is not an ideal living condition for a lot of people so moving to a bigger, more spread out area is a great contestant. Therefore, some of the key factors that explains the growth of the suburbs are housing policy (FHA & HOLC), mass-produced houses, mass-produced cars, cheap fuel, and government funding
“I shall briefly explain how I conceive this matter. Look round the world: Contemplate the whole and every part of it: You will find it to be nothing but one great machine, subdivided into an infinite number of lesser machines, which again admit of subdivisions, to a degree beyond what human senses and faculties can trace and explain. All these various machines, and even their most minute parts, are adjusted to each other with an accuracy, which ravishes into admiration all men, who have ever contemplated them. The curious adapting of means to ends, throughout all nature, resembles exactly, though it much exceeds, the productions of human contrivance; of human design, thought, wisdom, and intelligence. Since therefore the effects
Many Americans would be shocked to learn that the American Dream may be the cause. behind some of society’s most troubling problems. The dream of owning a house, a car, and a yard with a white picket fence is the driving force responsible for the phenomenon known as urban sprawl. Urban sprawl, sometimes referred to as suburban sprawl, is characterized by low. density development, geographic separation of essential places, and dependence on automobiles.
setting being in the city rather than a small town, is that the cities often have many people
Abandoned lots, also known as Brownfields land, is a land previously occupied by industrial installation, commercial buildings, older housing or any other development that, for various reasons (soil contamination by hazardous substances, bankruptcy of site developer/owner, building declared unfit for habitation, etc.), became useless for its original purpose and turned into an unproductive piece of land. These vacant lots are a major concern in urban areas and they impact in several aspects of the urban environment, forming a cascade of undesirable effects. There is the obvious aesthetic impact of the presence of vacant/abandoned lots that is the depreciation of the urban landscape. In consequence, since there is no aesthetic appeal or even the minimal infrastructure to support the flow of people, these sites function as true repellent of pedestrians.
City life and Countryside life are two different ways of living, having its own advantages and disadvantages. The significant differences in city and countryside life are social opportunities, culture, sources of entertainment, and quality of life. Moving in the fast paced city life was difficult for me after being raised in a country area for 14 years. Thus, I can say that I have witnessed the best and the worst of these two worlds.