Maybe, just maybe, we shall at last come to care for the most important, most challenging, surely the most satisfying of all architectural creations: building cities for people to live in.
Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges facing our cities or to the housing crisis, but the two issues need to be considered together. From an urban design and planning point of view, the well-connected open city is a powerful paradigm and an engine for integration and inclusivity.
From my first days in Washington D.C., where I rolled a whole four downtown blocks without seeing a single shop, cafe, bar or restaurant I could not access, to the beautifully accessible buses in New York City, I was in heaven.
Personally, I like a generous side of wheelchair access with my cities.
The right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city.
In the days and months I spent walking through the various communities of this city, I found that Chicago did not work for everyone, however.
The American city should be a collection of communities where every member has a right to belong. It should be a place where every man feels safe on his streets and in the house of his friends.
Children are a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people.
