Urbanism, Public Space, Programming
Rarely does a resident of any of the world’s greatest metropolitan areas pause to consider the complexity of urban life or the myriad systems that operate round the clock to support it. He or she wakes up in the morning to turn on a tap, switch on a light, flush a toilet or perhaps grab a banana—little knowing how much effort, on the part of how many people, goes in to making the simplest morning routine possible. …. Even the most mundane domestic tasks would be impossible without the far-reaching complex, and often invisible network of infrastructure that supports them.
— Kate Ascher
It is in cities where it is still possible for public space to work as a place of meeting and contact, indispensable for mutual recognition, which is the basis for any form of truly possible coexistance.
— In favor of public space
How can we imagine a public discussion in the contempoary dispersed city? Can we address its inhabitants as citizens? Are they party to the same debate? Is there a common media landscape and correlative public field? Is there a publicly shared understanding of what is good, of what is in the public interest? What determines the moral order of the in-between-city? Where are its public spaces? Where can one appear in public: in half-empty churches? On the old village square? In the public swimming pool? In the supermarket?
— Michiel Dehaene
Within the context of the modern metropolis, we have already witnessed the loosening of the relationship between public space and the public sphere.
— Michiel Dehaene
…constructing the public dimension of systematic insight into interrelated, interdependent, and co-evolving conditions.
— Michiel Dehaene
Whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more.
- Aldo van Eyck
Playgrounds & Play
Art & Architecture Misc
I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies.
— Le Corbusier
General
It concerns us to know the purposes we seek in life, for then, like archers aiming at a definite mark, we shall be more likely to attain what we want.
— Aristotle
Zen comes closer to science than any other religion for the simple reason that it does not require any faith. It requires of you only an intense inquiry into yourself, a deepening of consciousness, not concentration – a settling, a relaxing of consciousness, so that you can find your own source. That very source is the source of the whole existence.
— Osho
Anyone who is in love is making love the whole time, even when they’re not. When two bodies meet, it is just the cup overflowing. They can stay together for hours, even days. They begin the dance one day and finish it the next, or—such is the pleasure they experience—they may never finish it. No eleven minutes for them.
— Paulo Coelho (via mindofataurus)
On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.
— George Orwell
Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.
— from American Gods by Neil Gaiman