I’m getting ready to publish a new blog post about the history and demolition of parts of northern DTLA, and I would like to close it out with a particular quotation. Unfortunately I can’t remember the quote except for the general gist, which is that cities need to retain some unplanned spaces in order to be not totally sterile.
Can anyone help me out here? It may be from Jane Jacobs, but I wasn’t able to google up the quote.
Out of my league, but any of these ring a bell?
Thanks for the link, but I didn’t find the quote I’m after.
I could just write the same basic thought myself, but the quote I’m trying to remember put it much better than I could.
Cubes, squares, rectangles. Everything straight, everything even. Clutter has been outlawed. But a little disorder is a good thing. That’s where poetry lurks. We never needed promoters to provide us, in their generosity, with ‘leisure spaces’. We invented our own. Today there’s no question of putting your own space together, the planning commission will shut it down. Spontaneity has been outlawed. People are afraid of life.
How interesting! We have a framed Robert Doisneau poster on our bedroom wall.
I think I can use your quote, even though it isn’t the one I was looking for.
The new post is up, announced here.
Thanks again to TOWP for supplying a great quotation.