It Is Hopeless To Try

Throughout The World Dark Ages Have Scrawled Finis To Successions Of Cultures Receding Far Into The Past.

Observation Of Realities Has Never, To Put It Mildly, Been One Of The Strengths Of Economic Development Theory.

To Approach A City, Or Even A City Neighborhood, As If It Were A Larger Architectural Problem, Capable Of Being Given Order By Converting It Into A Disciplined Work Of Art, Is To Make The Mistake Of Attempting To Substitute Art For Life. The Results Of Such Profound Confusion Between Art And Life Are Neither Life Nor Art. They Are Taxidermy.

[cities] Are Not Like Suburbs, Only Denser. They Differ From Towns And Suburbs In Basic Ways, And One Of These Is That Cities Are, By Definition, Full Of Strangers.

But Look What We Have Built Low-income Projects That Become Worse Centers Of Delinquency, Vandalism And General Social Hopelessness Than The Slums They Were Supposed To Replace. Cultural Centers That Are Unable To Support A Good Bookstore. Civic Centers That Are Avoided By Everyone But Bums. Promenades That Go From No Place To Nowhere And Have No Promenaders. Expressways That Eviscerate Great Cities. This Is Not The Rebuilding Of Cities. This Is The Sacking Of Cities.