|
|
We will continue with our
tour of urban environments that don't suck, as we consider
alternatives to the automobile slums of the US. We should also consider
alternatives to the "Radiant City" ideal (big buildings/big
streets, ie NOT Really Narrow Streets), which is
the most common form of dense urban development today. I have been to many
"Radiant City"-type developments, and have yet to find one that was
better than mediocre. There are way too many "urban theorists"
today, and not enough urban realists, as we have plenty of extraordinarily
successful urban areas -- places that are not only vaguely tolerable, but a
concrescence of civility, art and high culture! I propose that Venice is one
such place. Although it is mostly a tourist destination today, nevertheless
it is a tourist destination precisely because it appeals to a broad range of
people. There is nothing in Venice that could not also serve as the physical
environment for most all of today's commercial activities. If people could do
this stuff five hundred years ago, they can do it today.
We see there the famous
canals, of course, linked with...Really Narrow Streets!
No parking!
If there's something
better than Really Narrow Streets, it must
certainly be Really Narrow Canals! This
produces an environment were people are inspired to artify their entire
living arrangements. Look at the buildings, the plants, the craftwork in the
boats, the stone bridges -- most of this built by hand before the industrial
age.
 
This little street looks
like a low-rent residential area. Nevertheless,
quite charming, no?
This shows a bit of the
interaction between the streets and the canals.
A cafe. Beats Starbucks.
Really Narrow Streets!
A night scene.
I hope you enjoyed our brief
tour of Venice. The purpose of this tour is not to sell you on a t-shirt and
an airfare/hotel package. It is to provide an example of a beautiful urban
environment that was created by humans, the sort of thing we could create
again today, in the US, if we decided to. At some point, we might get tired
of building and living in this crap. Actually, we are already tired of it,
but people don't have much idea of what to do next.
Nowhere to go, but we can
drive there in a jiffy!
The point of my focus on
Really Narrow Streets is that the core, the foundation of virtually all the
best urban environments in the world are little streets (or perhaps little canals),
the more crooked the better. From this foundation can be built an environment
in which people are inspired to artify their life in a thousand different
ways. You can try to imitate some of the other aspects of the Venetian
aesthetic, but without the Really Narrow Streets (shorthand for the basics of
Venice's urban environment), you end up with a hokey pastiche --at best.
The Venetian Hotel, Las
Vegas. Just like Venice.
Trust me.
On the other hand, if you
get the basics right -- little streets, little canals, small-scale buildings
packed tightly together -- then you get an effect much like that of Venice,
although from an entirely different culture.
A small
"klong", or transportation canal, in Bangkok. These are served by
small water taxis.
Other comments in this
series:
July 9, 2007: No Growth Economics
June 17, 2007: Recipe for Florence
March 26, 2006: The Eco-Metropolis
February 25, 2006: Let's Dream of
a Better World
Nathan
Lewis
Nathan Lewis was formerly the chief international
economist of a leading economic forecasting firm. He now works in asset
management. Lewis has written for the Financial Times, the Wall Street
Journal Asia, the Japan Times, Pravda, and other publications. He has
appeared on financial television in the United
States, Japan,
and the Middle East. About the Book: Gold:
The Once and Future Money (Wiley, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-470-04766-8, $27.95) is
available at bookstores nationwide, from all major online booksellers, and
direct from the publisher at www.wileyfinance.com or 800-225-5945. In Canada,
call 800-567-4797.
|
|
