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comment by lil
lil  ·  3777 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Defining Place

    I meant something different with that.
I believe you are asking about individual or community input into creating space. Is that it? If I'm right, that's an interesting question.

    Instead of controlling every aspect of the public realm, a place can be so much more if that tight grip is loosened.
The tight grip of urban planning protects people from rampant development as well as preventing the re-imagining of spaces.

I'm suggesting that in order to influence the space around us in any way, we have to feel a sense of ownership for it and belonging to it -- otherwise it is left to the urban planners, whether New Urbanismists or old.

I wonder if people in the Netherlands feel more ownership of public spaces country-wide given the size of the country than people in North America.





veen  ·  3777 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I believe you are asking about individual or community input into creating space. Is that it? If I'm right, that's an interesting question.

Yes, that's what I was aiming for! Planning doesn't need to be in extremes: there is something between complete freedom and complete control. Neither the planner nor the individual should be so arrogant to believe they know what's best.

    I wonder if people in the Netherlands feel more ownership of public spaces country-wide given the size of the country than people in North America.

There's a different attitude here, which is both good and bad. We're with 17 million people on a small piece of earth, so we don't have much space for everyone. This means that when we come together as a nation such as on Queens Day or with the soccer World Cup, there's a great atmosphere and everyone is much kinder to each other. The downside is that it's quite easy to be in somebody's way, and we can get quite angry when a stranger is in our way. And when your neighbours are always right next to you, nuisance happens often.

America on the other hand is so huge that everyone has space enough to be themselves, but it is much harder to reach someone. Both have their advantages and downsides, and one isn't necessarily much better than the other.