6 Comments
User's avatar
Fabricateurialist's avatar

appreciate the reply

Too many line cooks without a head chef - that has never worked

It is such an interesting space that feels, to an observer, as if it has dramatically changed over the past one, almost two decades. I have most notably seen new-build hotels get awkwardly laid out, and it then quickly transpired into these “neighborhood developments“ in densely populated areas

Ciarán Breen's avatar

The too many cooks metaphor is very apt!

Fabricateurialist's avatar

Thats such a universal result of new built districts sadly, the heavily zoned retail spaces make them sterile and are too few and too far apart

Ciarán Breen's avatar

That’s right. I think more focused attention to the street level experience is needed, from planning right through to construction and leasing.

Fabricateurialist's avatar

It’s also the absence of density

the curved walkways with grass and tree lines are a CAD crime

what’s the reason behind the consistency at which sterile neighborhoods are being built in your opinion ? Because this isn’t isolated, from Toronto to London, Paris to New York. They are optimized for everything but feeling hospitable and homey

Ciarán Breen's avatar

Thanks for your reply. Density doesn’t seem to explain it in France at least.

I think it’s more driven by clients solely focused on return on investment, those who see the site as a transaction rather than a a set of design choices that’ll impact the city for decades.

Also a fragmented process and cast of people from design to construction, with no one person carrying a public-spirited vision from start to finish.