Is anyone else getting sick of seeing mini-malls and monotonous housing developments spring up everywhere? This expansion boom makes for an ugly redefinement of our landscape. Population growth is an exponential function, meaning this development will theoretically only get faster. Earth obviously has limited amount of space for human inhabitants, so why not work now to start a trend of growing out cities up, rather than out?
Many of America's cities' skylines have been stagnant views lately, with the practicality of the suburbs becoming increasingly more attractive to both businesses and residents. If the government could create incentives to use our space more wisely, humans could prevent many of our expansion problems and preserve the natural landscape for as long as possible. I believe this would drastically improve our quality of life. Commutes to the city for both work and recreation would be easier and more environmentally friendly due to the increased use of public transportation. More land within our cities could be used for massive parks, taking precedence from New York's central park. Inhabitants would be closer to their friends, families, place of work, and place of recreation. More land would be available outside of city limits for publice use, as well as habitat conservation. Cities can still be made beautiful without our quarter-acre plots of grass and plants. What about creating more roof gardens?
Public officials in Columbus have been actively trying to identify and implement ways to revive the downtown area. Our city's once affluent areas have turned into slums as the money continues to move outward, leaving poverty in its wake. This issue is of extreme importance and needs to be addressed as such. Perhaps looking to the sky is the answer rather than grabbing for the next plot of land?
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The idea of roof gardens might be a particularly interesting solution to a couple of issues here. The most obvious benefit to a roof garden is the "up rather than out" aspect to it--creating public and personal nature-centered spaces without needing to take up more of the planet's surface area.
ReplyDeleteBut what the developers and architects of the future should leap upon, in my opinion, is the fact that people *love* their high spaces, and will pay for them. Penthouse suites are always the topmost level of a building, and it is commonly known that "having a stunning view" automatically raises real-estate pricing. I think that if this idea was sold as both environmentally practical and a slick financial opportunity, more people would reconsider their assumption of urban space as a smoggy, concrete mess.
I know im sick of seeing these ugly places popping up. Im from florida and i remember seeing these communities that your talking about (just outside the heavily populated areas) where literally every single house looked the same.. not to be judgemental of the people that live there, but i just couldnt see myself living in that environment. A little creativity never hurt anyone lol
ReplyDeleteSaint Louis, Missouri also has a large park in an urba area. It's called "Forrest Park". Most of the fun things to do are near the park: the zoo, the science center, the art museum, the planetarium. There's even an outdoor theatre called the Muny.
ReplyDeleteIt would be cool if more major cities had large parks.