James Howard Kunstler on Public Space

In this video James Howard Kunstler picks apart urban development in the United States, getting a few laughs in the process. In talking about creating “places that people care about” this struck me:

“The public realm is the physical manifestation of the public good. And when you degrade the public realm you will automatically degrade the quality of your civic life and the character of all the enactments of your public life and communal life that take place there.”

He also refers to a good public space as an activated space like an “outdoor public room” where “people just go because it’s pleasurable to be there.”

So when public spaces are peppered with guerrilla advertising – legal or not – how does that make for a great room? How does advertising in public space contribute to the manifestation of the public good?

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4 Comments

  1. Dave says:

    I thought this was supposed to be an ad-free blog? Nonetheless, the BMW logo is included on the block for this video. Also, there is a BMW commercial at the end of this video for a hydrogen car which is completely contradictory to what Ted was saying in the video: there will be no hydrogen economy.

  2. Touché, Dave. If I get some time I’ll edit the video and repost it. In the meantime, please hold your thumb over that area of the screen.

  3. Mike says:

    Great talk. I work on properties like the “TV” house alot…no side windows…often no sidewalks….8ft stockade fences in the yard…no sense of community whatsoever. Often these places have street names like Enchanted Forest Rd. or Running Brook Ave. Ironically, the enchanted forest was leveled and replaced with sapling street trees every 7 houses, and the running brook is now a stagnant ditch of lawn chemical runoff.

  4. Mike says:

    Great talk. I work on properties like the “TV” house all the time…no side windows…often no sidewalks….8ft stockade fences in the yard….no sense of community whatsoever. Often these places have street names like Enchanted Forest Rd. or Running Brook Ave. Ironically, the enchanted forest was leveled and replaced by sapling street trees every 7 houses and the running brook is now a stagnant ditch of lawn chemical runoff.

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