Cities need not be wastelands, again
In an article written by Henry Grabar, a warning is issued about the future of urban planning and development.
American cities are soon approaching a tipping point. Multiple people have been writing about this lately because of the coronavirus.
But it doesn't have to be this way, and based on the data, it seems the flight to the suburbs has been a bit over exaggerated
But even she posed the question: ''Can downtowns and cities weather the coronavirus crisis."
Which brings us back to the original point.
"For most of the 20th century, planners were convinced that faster, bigger roads and ample free parking would halt “decentralization” and save the centers where people worked. The results speak for themselves: Cities with overgrown highway networks and plenty of parking are, contrary to theory, now the ones that few people want to come to. Cities cannot beat suburbs at their own game. But they can destroy themselves in the process."
Timelines of everything has just sped up, potentially decades.
Cities are broke, office districts dormant, services cut to the bone. And wealthy white families will, in some number, move to the suburbs, sapping City Hall’s coffers when they go. Metropolises may get the gridlocked ’50s and the bankrupt ’70s all in six months.
Grabar leaves the reader with one last piece of caution:
The pandemic will pass. But in the meantime, one of its frightening effects is to expose a distressing lack of imagination about how to reinvent the places we live.
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