"Freeways have done terrible things to cities in the past decade, and in many instances have almost irrevocably destroyed large sections of the cities they were meant to serve. On the social level, they…have often devastated, more completely than any bombing, vast acreages of houses which provided needed low cost housing." Lawrence Halprin
"Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf" Lewis Mumford
"Freeways have paid little respect to urban deisgn values. In fact, it can be fairly said that in the disign of freeways no attention at all has been paid to their impact on the image of the city. Views have been pbliterated, important landmarks have been isolated, great waterfronts have been cut off, all by freeways within the cities whom they supposedly serve." Lawrence Halprin
This is definitey a strong argument for sustainability and cycling. It makes me proud I ride my Huffy all over town...
ReplyDeleteOkay, I am not going to ditch my car. It seems that the car itself is not to blame. Since its invention, the automobile has been a great asset. It was certainly a great alternative to the horse and buggy. The problem was are application to the automobile. Our transportation solutions have been for that single mode, and we have degraded and ingnored other modes such as street cars, pedestrain, rail, etc. And yes, perhaps our biggest mistake was bringing the automobile into cities. A deck park cannot undo that, but it can repair a huge gash in our city.
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