The Suburbanisation of Civilization

"Nine enormous and hugely unsophisticated [London] skyscrapers are being mooted by the world's architectural mega-corps. The London model dictates that, where a skyscraper is built, open space must be left around it, creating dim plazas. Consequently, tall buildings, while they do increase office space, fail to increase the density of the city, instead merely prodding the skyline with primitive architectural fingers, the sole aim of which is to create a recognisable logo. This leaves blank, unnecessary plazas, inevitably filled with the usual coffee shops and chain stores, the city becoming in effect suburbanised."

Financial Times August 3, 2005 via ArtsJournal.com












Chechelnik Choral (Great) Synagogue, Western Ukraine, ca. 1775