Blog 4 - Supplementing the Syllabus

 

Theme: Cities are built for cars and not people

Texts:

Building Better Cities – Talks about how cities can be built for the community

Reshaping Of City Cores | Forbes – Talks about moving away from the car-centric structure of cities

Cities Without People | Jacob Geller | Youtube – Talks about cars mark on the planet and how it affects our cities

Building Cities for People  - Talks about building walk-able cities and restructuring to create community beauty

From "Walking Cities" to "Automobile Cities"

 

Assignment: Compare and contrast how you perceive a driver/car while you are a pedestrian and vice versus. Discuss with peers and then write about why there is a divide or not? How can the divide be mitigated/improved upon if so?

 

Rationale: I believe that this is an important theme because the structure of cities plays a large role in how Americans live their lives and how they can experience their community. When a city is built around cars, it cuts off people from easy access to one another. A highway can split a community. Walk-able cities provide access to everyone, not only keeping communities together but also allowing those without the resources for transportation access to the city and vital areas. Not only that, but those who have cars exhibit a power over those without; a two-ton machine is unforgiving, and people know it, so they yield to these machines. Having a car or not can change how life is experienced in current day America. It shouldn’t be that way.

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