The Problem is: the cities, still in accordance with the traffic

Mr. Sennett, you have worked for decades with cities and how they are built. Then they had a stroke. In her book, "The open city", they write, that this has changed their perspective on the city. Why?
At a stroke, you lose the feel for distances. To be In a crowd, is suddenly a difficulty. As an Urbanist, I have done nothing other than to study people amounts. After the stroke, I had to train himself for me to be able to do.

What have you learned?
If you believe that you fall, look to his surroundings much more closely. You think about it, who would have a field. In a way, I've sharpened through this observation, my feeling for the space between the people.

cities are designed for healthy people, not Sick people. Is this a Problem?
Definitely, and for old people also. About all the lights, give you 15 seconds to cross a street. After these 15 seconds, I had managed just a third of the route.

you have not to be scared, to be overlooked, if you had really needed help?
Actually, not. I wanted to rest just. Nevertheless, it is strange that the vast majority of cities based solely on healthy people. Even if we are teaching architecture , not think about it.

Just in this country, the insane would be important. Our society is getting older.
That's right. But the list of things that should be considered in the planning of cities, actually, is a long one. The Problem is: The cities are not still the people, but according to the traffic . The big focus is to keep the cars in motion.

the car-friendly city is not too human friendly, but should be long clear. Why does the idea still have so many followers?
Because of the economic pressure ensures that a city is more than complex. If you don't have to think about what makes a place, then the global capital can invest there.

you write that children who grow up in cities have a greater Chance to be democratic citizens. Why?
you learn it very physically, because they are with other children in the school. That is why it is so important to place schools at the border instead of the centre. The result is that children from the various district meetings, rich and poor, white and black. The Best, what can the city planner, is to create a structure in which people encounter automatically.

"In the planning of cities, the big focus is to keep the cars in motion."

do you Believe that cities and towns can also make you sick? A scientist found out that city-dwellers due to the higher Stress are at increased risk of developing dementia and schizophrenia.
That surprises me. My Argument would be that an old man who lives isolated somewhere in the country, should rather suffer greatly from loneliness. Nevertheless, we place homes for the elderly like to be as far as possible from the centre. Old people need the stimulation that you are still in the midst of life: that children are around you, that there are stores for shopping.

What would you consider the Ideal of a healthy city?
The city should be a place where people learn with complexity, to live with diversity. Everyone needs these skills, but they are missing in modern cities. It goes far beyond the city's planning and beyond: Contemporary cultures just lose the idea that complexity is a Good thing. You want simplicity. For me, this is a dezivilisierender process.

How to design a city of the future look like for you?
The question is, how do we design cities so that different people can live together. Architecturally, the city of the future should allow for more change.

And how are you supposed to reach that? You once said that you are not a big Fan of master plans.
This is actually the big task: How to build the right framework without a master plan? The Problem here is that cities today are growing as fast, seemingly just a master plan in order to get finished. I don't think so. We try to find ways to increase with very flexible elements of the scale. This corresponds to an open System in mathematics.

But how should that look like in concrete terms? Can you imagine such a System of openness, for example, for a skyscraper?
My students had to think about how a flexible System vertical can work. It has something to do with it, how to do a building as diverse as possible – this starts with the lifts, the plan in very different ways and can build.

there Are precedents for this?
The Japanese are quite far. Where there are public courts in the 20th century. Floor, and it is always possible to go directly from the street in the higher floors. For that you need special ski lifts. The ground floor is a maximum of half of the public, everything after that is private.

In the United States, a President who has become with high-rise buildings, the Empire ruled. The Donald Trump is perhaps a misunderstood Urbanist?
I think you already knew the answer. The only way Trump can be a city, imagine is as a place for real estate speculation. Small shops, schools, hospitals – are not interested in him at all. What does it mean for our cities so that Trump is President? A Disaster – except maybe for very rich people.

Why is that?
have you ever been in a Trump Tower? They are filled with thin layers of marble and gold leaf. This is trump's idea of how to be a building.By the way, all of them are built the houses pretty bad. We in New York knew that he is a crook. No American Bank has done business with him.

The Fascinating thing about cities is their diversity. But the city planning is often in your Hand the middle ages, white men. A Problem?
Yes, but from the urban planning has also become a bureaucratic Exercise that is performed by a small group of so-called experts. Among the people I hired at that time to advise the UN, for example, an archeologist and a singer. They were all wonderful, town planners, because they thought differently and creatively to the task. This is what we need.

Have you wished ever to move to the country?
Never! My children and grandchildren have a house in the country, 50 miles from London. I'm going out there and, of course, remain, but only as short a time as possible. I like concrete.

(editing Tamedia)

Created: 01.05.2019, 07:20 PM