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Urban Space and Democracy

Nasim

I am trying to do some research on the topic of "urban environments and democracy".

What kind of urban elements, services and spaces do you think are the illustration of a healthy and democrat society?

What has been your personal experience in terms of being limited in that way?

 
Nov 20, 10 5:51 pm
Rusty!

Watch "Triumph of the will" for inspiration.

Also Tienanmen square.

Also Glen Beck's Rally to restore more derp.

Nov 20, 10 7:11 pm  · 
 · 
headyshreddy

Being that we are not in a democratic state, nor apparently wish to be, I would suggest that the georgian plantation homes of the pre civil war america are as close as one may get. they are private, secluded, peaceful, and allowed for sustainable living (confederate soldiers didn't have wall-marts). they are situated with proper urban proxemics and most are quite beautiful. this is the american dream, equality is a scam and not human in nature.

penn's plan for philadelphia would be a good thing to look at, not d.c. as most people confuse it with a democratic plan. philadelphia, based on augustine's "city of god," provides an interesting plot layout for its inhabitants, and is purposefully placed higher up-river from the natives, dutch, and swedes that had been shitting the water for decades. yeah...just read more about it, great story. i believe charleston has a similar layout but you may check, augustine's city of god shows up in many places (londonderry, post-fire plan of london, philadelphia) but is essentially the roman cardo/deco. plan with a little jesus twist.

unfortunately today we have a hard time gathering what democracy really is/means. our middle-school books are a joke and tell us fantasizing bullshit. our urban spaces today are constructed without this realization or critical input, therefore we have silly fountains, boring parks, and ugly urban sequences that would make rowe eat his heart out. this is, of course, not the case for all but a vast majority in todays urban schemes.

i spent a good bit of time researching the image/myth of the american west for my undergraduate thesis. during, i found that cities are fairly non-democratic while rural schemes are (also dealing with proxemics and anthropology). if anything is like democracy it is yellowstone national park. set up like a series of pilgrimages, people pay homage to the power of geologic time and activity, or god for those less willing to accept failure, only to realize that they did not explore a single thing and learned only the information printed in front of them. the government claimed/stole the land before custard was killed and sucked all of its resources to near death at the turn of the 19th century. oil and railroad companies made a SHIT-LOAD of money and now it is a museum that cannot be touched because the government owns it. oh and you pay to keep it open. sound familiar? but in the end it is "democracy" at a very high level, whether good or bad. not to mention the beautiful network of villiages and buildings.


















Nov 23, 10 2:26 am  · 
 · 
holz.box

i believe you mean a democratic society.

Nov 30, 10 2:57 am  · 
 · 
Nasim

Thanks for the correction. Yes, that is what I meant.
Also thanks to others who responded. the feedbacks are really helpful.

Dec 5, 10 10:17 pm  · 
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