
What Ever Happened to Beauty?


Street life is drastically reduced when small, active units are superseded by large units. In many places it is possible to see how life in the streets has dwindled drastically as gas stations, car dealerships, and parking lots have created holes and voids in the city fabric, or when passive units such as offices and banks move in. In contrast, exa
... See moreJan Gehl • Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space
If we don't have real third places, what do we have instead? Oldenburg calls what we have as non-places. In real places, a human being is a unique individual person. In non-places, individuality disappears and you're either a customer, a client, an address to be billed, or a car to be parked. Places have now mostly been reduced to consumerism. Alli
... See moreMina Le • Third Places, Stanley Cup Mania, and the Epidemic of Loneliness
Authenticity somehow implies both fragility and eternity—something that has lasted a long time but may be endangered by modern forces. The authenticity of a place and its people are deeply intertwined not only because people make up the culture of a place but because the very notion of authenticity is predicated on the choices we make as free indiv
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