During that time period we built countless white concrete high-rise "Commieblocks" in Ontario. Back when affordable rentals and reasonably priced for purchase housing was still a thing
Had mid-century planning not been so doggedly revolutionary and fatally flawed, our ancestors of the time would have given us whole new cities to work with.
Instead we have a memory of good intentions and vast tracts of strange experimentation.
I realize I have been bigging Sweden up a bit with the trains and such. Let us never forget:
I am pretty sure that building was assembled from an IKEA flatpack. Sjuksköterska
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. (Bertrand Russell)
mind you, Ontario has these types of buildings in spades. Usually not as wide, and usually taller, but no less soul-sucking. For example, any Drewlo apartment complex in London (Ontario).
Here is a (somewhat dated) soul-sucking shot of the back-end (not flattering angle) of London
__________________
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. (Bertrand Russell)
Had mid-century planning not been so doggedly revolutionary and fatally flawed, our ancestors of the time would have given us whole new cities to work with.
Instead we have a memory of good intentions and vast tracts of strange experimentation.
Makes me wonder what people a half-century from now will think of today's planning. Will there be a feeling (among those who care about it; I think only a minority really do) that we "got it right" or at least began to, if comparing to today or the relatively near future? Or will some different models emerge that make today's planning look like good-intentions-only? Opinions about what develops will inevitably differ depending on location in the world.
The impact of technology on how our cities are designed and built will be interesting to watch too. Though in a half-century I'll more than likely be gone... in mind, if not body.
mind you, Ontario has these types of buildings in spades. Usually not as wide, and usually taller, but no less soul-sucking. For example, any Drewlo apartment complex in London (Ontario).
Here is a (somewhat dated) soul-sucking shot of the back-end (not flattering angle) of London
That looks like the set of some Reagan-era dystopia about "what if America went commie".
Makes me wonder what people a half-century from now will think of today's planning. Will there be a feeling (among those who care about it; I think only a minority really do) that we "got it right" or at least began to, if comparing to today or the relatively near future? Or will some different models emerge that make today's planning look like good-intentions-only? Opinions about what develops will inevitably differ depending on location in the world.
The impact of technology on how our cities are designed and built will be interesting to watch too. Though in a half-century I'll more than likely be gone... in mind, if not body.
We still have enormous scale issues that come from Modernism and from cars. Our buildings and spaces are still far too vast.
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