Hello Everyone:
Question: Do you google yourself at 5:00 a.m.? The president does and proceeded to have another one his twit fits, this time raging at Google for burying positive stories about him. Um, this is not the National Enquirer, Larry Page and Sergy Brin are not David Pecker who will bury negative news about you for a price. Next question: What would your city look like if your mum designed it? Blogger cannot imagine her mum trying to design Los Angeles. Maybe there would be better transportation.
Christine Murray asks this question in her The Guardian article, "What would cities look if they were designed by mothers?" Ms. Murray points out, "Architecture's lack of diversity shows in environment created by people who never need step-free access or to take the bus." The lack of a more inclusive workplace has created a profession that is oblivious to the needs of the elderly, mothers with small children and infants. What if moms designed cities like London? Shall we find out what Ms. Murray has in mind.
The latest rendering of a proposed development in Greenwich, south east London sparked some outrage on the social media (twitter.com/@margaretrave; Aug. 15, 2018; date accessed Aug. 15, 2018). Ms. Murray reports, "The Elysian rendering of Charlton Riverside features 36 people frolicking in the park, and only one of them is black. Among the white millennials and young children there is also a single older person, gesticulating in sprightly manner with a walking cane."
Fact: The architecture profession in the United States and Kingdom is overwhelmingly white, male, and privileged. Given this fact, there are very legitimate concerns that they are designing our cities for individuals like them. Here is another fact: "Fewer than one in every 10 architect is black, Asian or minority-ethnic, and less than a third [2017.arb.org.uk; date accessed Aug. 28, 2018] of UK qualified architects are women. And the numbers are not improving."
A month ago, the British government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport published statistic on e creative industries, revealing a startling 10-percent drop (gov.uk; July 18, 2018; date accessed Aug. 28, 2018) in the number of women in the architecture profession, while the numbers of African British, Asians, and other ethnic minorities remained stable. The uproar over the vanilla Greenwich rendering comes at a moment when the Royal Institute of British Architecture is facing accusations of racism (the guardian.com; Aug. 9, 2018; date accessed Aug. 27, 2018) over its recent elections.
Christine Murray engages in a bit a of creative speculation, "Lately I've found myself imagining what the world might look like if the people who designed--politicians, planners and architects--were more diverse." Interesting question. It is not like men and women design differently but experience is a better teacher than any studio professor. Over the past decade, the current iteration of projects seem to focus more decorative landscapes and fancy coffee places, then more practical concerns like: "free drinking, public toilets, cheap groceries and a post office." Instead, they appear to remedy the champagne problems of the glitterati that created them.
Back to the original question: "What would our cities be like if mother had more of s role in designing them?" Straight away, there would be ramps everywhere. Having had experience pushing the niece and nephews' stroller, has made Blogger look at stairs in a different light. Ms. Murray shared her experience, "Schlepping a pushchair around makes you think differently about stairs. I cried when my nearest station was revamped without the inclusion of a lift.... Any station or public building undergoing refurbishment should by law be made step-free."
Unfortunately Ms. Murray is not likely find too many sympathizes among architects. She reports, "According to a recent survey by the Architectural Review, 75% of women in architecture don't have children" (architectural-review.com; February 26, 2016; date accessed Aug. 28. 2018). She continues, "Most architecture graduates think they're designing access ramps for the odd wheelchair, not every child under three."
Riding a bus, and you quickly realize that there is not enough room for a wheelchair or a stroller. Using a shopping cart, a walker, luggage, or group of excited schoolchildren with backpacks, you get the idea that there is not enough room on city buses. She describes London's experience, "And the New Routemaster buses may have fancy rear door, golden handrails and two staircases, but passengers also require air. Even if the London mayor, Sadiq Kahn, ordered openable windows to be installed in these double-decker sweat lodges, gone is get former pleasure of the big-windowed and windy upper deck." Ms. Murray should try riding Los Angeles buses. She might be more appreciative of London buses.
What if senior citizens--like Blogger's mum--got into urban design? Oy vey. At least there would be plenty of places to sit. Ms. Murray writes, "Most London [theguardian.com; date accessed Aug. 28, 2018] bus shelters have those angled, non-stick benched that are to buttocks as icy hills are to sledges." Decorative features rather than anything useable. As for main station, like in King's Cross, an arriving passenger is expected to float through the hall like "the ghost of nationalised past, unless you go outside to the abundance of benches in attractive wastelands of public spaces."
Just as confounding in the United Kingdom is the lack of public toilets (Ibid; July 8,2018)--YES-- which require one to have a camel bladder. This forces a person with a bladder at DefCon 5 to either dash into a coffee place, buy something (paging Starbucks) just to unload or holding it until you can find a discreet corner or get home. Christine Murray proposes this clever rule, "...if you can eat in, you can wee in, too."
What if teenagers, like Blogger's eldest nephew, designed cities? Places to charge your phone and other devices would be a human right. Advertisements featuring beautiful slender people would be banished. There would food places on every corner. Parkour (Ibid; Aug. 14, 2014) would be a national sport. "There would be slow lanes on cycle pages for cruising your BMX,band for skateboarders, scooters and children learning to ride." Fenced-in grass patches would be repurposed as loitering area. Anyone posting a sign that said no ball playing, would be fined. "Adventure playgrounds would stay open late." New major developments would have a normal shop that sells normal things at normal prices--none of this overpriced sandwich and coffee nonsense. Best of all, the police would walk the streets of places that actually need them, and be helpful, instead of private security pretending to be police.
Concluding on a positive note, Christine Murray cites, Blogger concurs, the span between St. Paul's Cathedral and Tate Modern as a well designed space. She writes, "My favourite in London is the uninterrupted ramp that floats you over the Thames from St. Paul's Cathedral to the Tate Modern via the Millenium Bridge without a step. There's even play equipment and several places to sit." Truly a well designed space that proves it can be done.
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