I was re-reading “Suburban Nation” the other day and it’s a really good book (excerpt here) … The “Silent Spring” of urban planning? I don’t know. Anyways, that work applies really well to America and why the American model of urban development since the 1950’s should NOT be used anywhere and everywhere else.
BUT, I recently read an article that points at something everywhere could or should be thinking about. Here is an excerpt from an article Andres Duany wrote in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in New Orleans:
I remember specifically when on a street in the Marigny I came upon a colorful little house framed by banana trees. I thought, “This is Cuba.” (I am Cuban.) I realized at that instant that New Orleans is not really an American city, but rather a Caribbean one. I understood that, when seen through the lens of the Caribbean, New Orleans is not among the most haphazard, poorest, or misgoverned American cities, but rather the most organized, wealthiest, cleanest, and competently governed of the Caribbean cities. (link to full article)
So is there a cultural aspect of urban planning? Hello out there all you urban planners, architects, grad students and professors … This is my call out to you. If this exists, making urban planning fit into cultures and places around the world. Write to me!
