The issue of uglification
Well… I was going to write about the great interview that Stephen Fry gave on the Sunday edition this last weekend, but two lovely Prairie Dog writers have beat me to it! In short, listen to it. Seriously. He makes some really interesting points about the mindset that we North American’s have when it comes to architecture (and our desire to constantly knock it down and rebuild). He suggests at one point that this cycle is in our genes… which is rather depressing. In particular I like his idea that aesthetics are a moral issue – that we have a duty to build things to be beautiful (he also mentions that in many cases it doesn’t cost more to do this). Spot on, I say.
There are countless examples of interesting architeture that was destroyed in Regina in the name of progress – even just looking at this Wikipedia article makes me yearn to have been born a little earlier so that I could have seen some of these great places.
For more listening with respect to urban issues (architecture, sprawl, planning), I would recommend the Kunstlercast, and Spacing Radio.
**ALSO – Let’s chat more about this idea of Floating Communities! Super interesting concept that needs discussion!
