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A Dreadful Legacy: The Downfall of Building, Community and Transportation Design:
178
by Dominic Nozzi
Dominic Nozzi
A Dreadful Legacy: The Downfall of Building, Community and Transportation Design:
178
by Dominic Nozzi
Dominic Nozzi
Hardcover
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Overview
For most of human history, humans designed and built time-tested settlements, buildings, and transportation that were loved and persisted for countless generations.
Starting in the 20th century, this all changed for the worse due to the emergence of the motor vehicle and the modernist architectural paradigm.
I write in detail about how modernist architecture has destroyed the lovability of our cities.
Neither the motorizing or modernism innovations are capable of leaving us with human-centered places that are financially sustainable, loved, human-scaled, or timeless. Instead, the buildings, communities, and transportation these two tragic paradigms have left us and future generations are unlovable, despised, oversized, unaffordable, and ugly. So much so that we and future generations are eager to demolish such things the moment they are built (or -- as led by an enraged mob of NIMBYs -- stop them from being built the moment they are erected).
The Older the Better
A common adage throughout human history is "New and Improved!" and "The Newer the Better!"
This made sense, as society tends to acquire more and more knowledge. In combination with learning from past mistakes and market-based innovation, this nearly always leads to "new and improved" design.
But starting in the 20th century – and for the first time in human history – "new and improved" has now been turned on its head.
For the past century, largely due to the rise of unlovable modernist architecture and designing for happy motor vehicles rather than happy people, we are tragically seeing the reverse.
Now in every city in western civilization, it is now "Old and Improved!" and "The Older the Better!" It is invariably the oldest parts of our cities – particularly the historic neighborhoods -- that are the most loved.
This book describes the dreadful legacy of what has been built by recent generations, and the need to return to the timeless tradition of designing for people rather than motor vehicles and mindless innovation. Shame on our generations for making our world – for a century – worse than it was. For making "the older the better."
The dreadful legacy our recent generations have left for future generations can be summarized as follows, and will be described in detail in Part 1 and Part 2. In Part 3, I will offer some suggestions for bringing us back from the brink and toward a timeless, lovable future.
Our cities – after a century of car-friendly design – are unloved, scary, noisy, ugly, dangerous, excessively high-speed, oversized "no man's lands" without a sense of place.
Because of this, there perhaps has never been less civic pride – pride in our cities – than there is today.
We have virtually no choice in how to travel. Nearly all of us must make nearly every trip by motor vehicle.
The above has dispersed and isolated us more than ever in the past, which makes us more alone than we have ever been, and bankrupts all levels of government because the dispersion is unable to pay for itself.
The dispersion has brought us perhaps to the point of no return. We are too spread out to re-create what we need for healthy commerce, affordable and resilient travel, and quality of life -- such as slower speeds and charming human scale.
Our roads are the most dangerous they have ever been for pedestrians and bicyclists, and the chances of our restoring road safety is highly unlikely due to the enormous political barriers to doing so.
Our buildings and communities and roads are so dysfunctional, unloved, dangerous, and unaffordable that future generations have no choice but to demolish and replace as much of it as possible.
Today it seems hard to believe – following a century of ruin by motorized transportation and modernist architecture – that before the 20th century, developers were admired and considered heroic because they reliably brought lovable buildings and transportation to our communities. After a century of awful-ness, developers instead reliably bring us buildings and transportation that we rightly fear and despise and want to stop or demolish as soon as possible.
Jan Gehl once expressed the opposite of this – a condition that existed for nearly all of human history. He expressed the joy of living in a place and time when new development was intended to make people rather than motor vehicles happy, or time when buildings were designed based on a time-tested and loved design rather than an embarrassing dream of a modernist. "How nice it is," Gehl rhapsodized, "to wake up every morning and know that your city is a little better than it was the day before."
Gehl, again, was expressing what it was like in most of human history. The rise of motorized travel and modernist buildings has tragically reversed this joyous expectation. Instead of eager expectations for what was to come, we are now horrified by what will be done to make our communities worse.
It does not have to be this way.
Starting in the 20th century, this all changed for the worse due to the emergence of the motor vehicle and the modernist architectural paradigm.
I write in detail about how modernist architecture has destroyed the lovability of our cities.
Neither the motorizing or modernism innovations are capable of leaving us with human-centered places that are financially sustainable, loved, human-scaled, or timeless. Instead, the buildings, communities, and transportation these two tragic paradigms have left us and future generations are unlovable, despised, oversized, unaffordable, and ugly. So much so that we and future generations are eager to demolish such things the moment they are built (or -- as led by an enraged mob of NIMBYs -- stop them from being built the moment they are erected).
The Older the Better
A common adage throughout human history is "New and Improved!" and "The Newer the Better!"
This made sense, as society tends to acquire more and more knowledge. In combination with learning from past mistakes and market-based innovation, this nearly always leads to "new and improved" design.
But starting in the 20th century – and for the first time in human history – "new and improved" has now been turned on its head.
For the past century, largely due to the rise of unlovable modernist architecture and designing for happy motor vehicles rather than happy people, we are tragically seeing the reverse.
Now in every city in western civilization, it is now "Old and Improved!" and "The Older the Better!" It is invariably the oldest parts of our cities – particularly the historic neighborhoods -- that are the most loved.
This book describes the dreadful legacy of what has been built by recent generations, and the need to return to the timeless tradition of designing for people rather than motor vehicles and mindless innovation. Shame on our generations for making our world – for a century – worse than it was. For making "the older the better."
The dreadful legacy our recent generations have left for future generations can be summarized as follows, and will be described in detail in Part 1 and Part 2. In Part 3, I will offer some suggestions for bringing us back from the brink and toward a timeless, lovable future.
Our cities – after a century of car-friendly design – are unloved, scary, noisy, ugly, dangerous, excessively high-speed, oversized "no man's lands" without a sense of place.
Because of this, there perhaps has never been less civic pride – pride in our cities – than there is today.
We have virtually no choice in how to travel. Nearly all of us must make nearly every trip by motor vehicle.
The above has dispersed and isolated us more than ever in the past, which makes us more alone than we have ever been, and bankrupts all levels of government because the dispersion is unable to pay for itself.
The dispersion has brought us perhaps to the point of no return. We are too spread out to re-create what we need for healthy commerce, affordable and resilient travel, and quality of life -- such as slower speeds and charming human scale.
Our roads are the most dangerous they have ever been for pedestrians and bicyclists, and the chances of our restoring road safety is highly unlikely due to the enormous political barriers to doing so.
Our buildings and communities and roads are so dysfunctional, unloved, dangerous, and unaffordable that future generations have no choice but to demolish and replace as much of it as possible.
Today it seems hard to believe – following a century of ruin by motorized transportation and modernist architecture – that before the 20th century, developers were admired and considered heroic because they reliably brought lovable buildings and transportation to our communities. After a century of awful-ness, developers instead reliably bring us buildings and transportation that we rightly fear and despise and want to stop or demolish as soon as possible.
Jan Gehl once expressed the opposite of this – a condition that existed for nearly all of human history. He expressed the joy of living in a place and time when new development was intended to make people rather than motor vehicles happy, or time when buildings were designed based on a time-tested and loved design rather than an embarrassing dream of a modernist. "How nice it is," Gehl rhapsodized, "to wake up every morning and know that your city is a little better than it was the day before."
Gehl, again, was expressing what it was like in most of human history. The rise of motorized travel and modernist buildings has tragically reversed this joyous expectation. Instead of eager expectations for what was to come, we are now horrified by what will be done to make our communities worse.
It does not have to be this way.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9798369218679 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Barnes & Noble Press |
| Publication date: | 03/24/2023 |
| Pages: | 178 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d) |
About the Author
Dom Nozzi has a Bachelor’s in environmental science from SUNY Plattsburgh and a Master’s in town planning from Florida State University. For 20 years, he was a senior planner for Gainesville FL, and a planner for Boulder CO. He has spent 40 years working academically and professionally in town planning, urban design, and transportation – particularly designing for walking, bicycling, and transit.
He has delivered over 100 speeches across the US. He is a prolific blogger.
He was a Neighborhood Assoc. president in Gainesville. He served on a Condo Assoc. Board of Directors in Boulder. He was the founder and chair of the Mapleton Hill PorchFest in Boulder.
He was a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism. He authored several environmental, transportation, and urban design plans and regulations for Gainesville. He is in Who's Who for the South and Southwest.
He has written and published several books. A list of those books can be found here.
He has served on the Board of Directors for Bike/Walk Virginia. He has served as a Complete Streets Instructor in several cities throughout the nation. He was an adjunct professor for the University of Colorado and served on the Boulder Transportation Advisory Board. He served on the PLAN-Boulder County Board of Directors, and the Bike/Walk Greenville SC Board of Directors.
He is a lifelong bicycle commuter. He is a world traveler, skier, sky-diver, hiker, kayaker, single-track mountain bicyclist, and scuba diver. He has toured over 56 Italian cities and visited 26 nations.
He has hiked 154 named trails in the Colorado Rockies, totaling 1,810 miles.
He is an accomplished cook and a satisfying dancer.
He has delivered over 100 speeches across the US. He is a prolific blogger.
He was a Neighborhood Assoc. president in Gainesville. He served on a Condo Assoc. Board of Directors in Boulder. He was the founder and chair of the Mapleton Hill PorchFest in Boulder.
He was a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism. He authored several environmental, transportation, and urban design plans and regulations for Gainesville. He is in Who's Who for the South and Southwest.
He has written and published several books. A list of those books can be found here.
He has served on the Board of Directors for Bike/Walk Virginia. He has served as a Complete Streets Instructor in several cities throughout the nation. He was an adjunct professor for the University of Colorado and served on the Boulder Transportation Advisory Board. He served on the PLAN-Boulder County Board of Directors, and the Bike/Walk Greenville SC Board of Directors.
He is a lifelong bicycle commuter. He is a world traveler, skier, sky-diver, hiker, kayaker, single-track mountain bicyclist, and scuba diver. He has toured over 56 Italian cities and visited 26 nations.
He has hiked 154 named trails in the Colorado Rockies, totaling 1,810 miles.
He is an accomplished cook and a satisfying dancer.
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