“Each detail in a city should reflect that human beings are sacred.” ~ Enrique Penalosa
If I say “city”, what’s the first word that comes to your mind?
Skyscrapers? Concrete? Traffic? Crowded? Busy?
What if the answers were more like “Parks”, “Community”, “Opportunity”, or dare I suggest “Ease”?
Why is this second set of answers so funny? Why can’t we have cities that are beacons of a peaceful, productive, and harmonious way of life? I’m not convinced of the impossibility of this wish. I think in a city we can have the very best of the natural world and the human made world. I believe that the two can co-exist.
How?
It is up to us to make it so. We have to choose it and choose leaders who believe in it. City life is becoming the American way of life, the global way of life. Over 50% of the world’s people live in cities and to make this trend tenable, we must transform city living into healthy, happy, and sustainable living for all people who choose it. The answer is in the details – the green space, housing, transportation, etc. – and those details should honor our creativity, ingenuity, and generosity.
Christa Avampato 