ideas for convivial cities

"Dreams at first seem impossible, then seem improbable, and finally, when we commit ourselves, become inevitable." Mahatma Gandhi

"And finally, in the current trend of architectural practice, rather than negating reality as paper architecture has often done in the twentieth century, the successful entrants to the AA Prize for Unbuilt Work build upon a passion for what is “real” – issues facing us today that can be projected ov

"First among the intellectual illusions to be done away with is that which, by means of the image alone, tries to anticipate the conditions of an architecture ‘for a liberated society.’ Who proposes such slogan avoids asking himself if, its obvious utopianism aside, this object is perusable without

"Every discipline, in becoming increasingly reductionist and technocratic, has given way to a process of dehumanization. To humanize ourselves again from within our own disciplines is the great challenge. Only such an effort can build the foundations for a fruitful transdisciplinary endeavor that ma

"Of course, all the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness, can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I believe the time has come to find a

"To revive architecture’s value, we, as architects, need to identify publicly and quite specifically which irreducible human needs architecture serves and how it does so."

"Sustainable development has the potential to address fundamental challenges for humanity, now and into the future. However, to do this, it needs more clarity of meaning, concen- trating on sustainable livelihoods and well-being rather than well-having, and long term environmental sustainability, wh

"Economics and ecology are words built on the same root – ‘eco’ – from the Greek word ‘oikos’ meaning home. Ecology is the study of home. Economics is the management of home. What ecologists try to do is to determine the conditions and principles that govern life’s ability to flourish and survive."

"One might think that an abstracted world can be ordered, beautified, and perfected, but in the end the real will come back to bite you."

"In fact, ever since the Greeks taught us that the 'public' constitutes a special and more exacting sense of the political, we have been able to understand and distinguish for example authentically 'public' architecture from the mere funerary works of autocratic political systems"