how we shape cities, and cities shape us
Instagram and TikTok have facilitated easy, superficial connections that placate the human need to truly connect to people, art, and ideas. Comparing ourselves to strangers' highlight reels flattens our self-worth.
Consuming content about cultural events gave the impression of relational connection, when in reality, I'd just watched a 15-second... See more
Consuming content about cultural events gave the impression of relational connection, when in reality, I'd just watched a 15-second... See more
We accept today that the days of startup cities, at least in the West, are over, but I don't think we should. And the societal changes that a post-COVID world makes possible could restart this cycle. For thousands of years, ambitious young people have had to move to big cities run by the kind of people who run big cities to maximize opportunity in... See more
Marc Andreessen • The Dubrovnik Interviews: Marc Andreessen - Interviewed by a Retard
“A neighbourhood is not only an association of buildings but also a network of social relationships, an environment where the feelings and the sympathy can flourish.” -
Jane Jacobs
Alexi Gunner • idle gaze 002: Community thrives through bustling neighbourhoods and casual chatter.
After all, cities are where people are supposed to have serendipitous encounters—as the writer and critic Jane Jacobs said, “The metropolis provides what otherwise could be given only by traveling; namely, the strange.” By comparison, the cliché goes, people become more atomized the farther they move from urban environments into the clinical, safe,... See more
Allie Conti • We Really Should Hang Out More Often
You are always internalizing the culture around you. Even when you wish you didn’t. So you better surround yourself with something you want inside—curate a culture.
Henrik Karlsson • First We Shape Our Social Graph; Then It Shapes Us
According to Putnam, the more we prioritize our private bubbles over public life, the more we disconnect from our local surroundings. This has weakened American democracy. Fewer people are engaged in politics, and those who do are often at the political poles. With less social capital, our neighborhoods are connected by fewer informal, reciprocal... See more