tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post5798189869356516664..comments2023-10-11T05:46:26.432-05:00Comments on Where: New York, Paris, London...Vegas?Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-12551011424735449912008-05-22T21:12:00.000-05:002008-05-22T21:12:00.000-05:00A recent post at the blog Globalization and the En...A recent post at the blog Globalization and the Environment sums up my feelings on Kunstler and his ilk nicely; I thought I'd share a quote:<BR/><BR/><I>The best antidote to the doom merchants is skepticism. We must be willing to take uncertainty seriously. Climate change is a fact. But apocalyptic thinking distorts the scientific debate and makes it harder to explain the causes and consequences of this fact, which in turn makes it harder to know how to deal with it.<BR/><BR/>The danger is that we become so infected with the apocalyptic virus that we end up creating a real catastrophe — the meltdown of our economies and lifestyles — in order to avoid an imaginary one.</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://globalisation-and-the-environment.blogspot.com/2008/05/apocalypse-now.html" REL="nofollow">Source</A>Brendan Crainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-90592928496181037322008-05-16T00:31:00.000-05:002008-05-16T00:31:00.000-05:00Pittsburgh happens to be my favorite city; I agree...Pittsburgh happens to be my favorite city; I agree wholeheartedly that it is a wonderful and woefully underrated place. But to suggest that places that have not already attained that level of urbanity are incapable of doing so shows, if not a lack of imagination, than an extremely narrow view of the future. Pittsburgh does not have to suffer for Las Vegas to improve and thrive. This is not an either-or situation. Las Vegas and Pittsburgh can and should learn from each other.Brendan Crainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-60620989166570654522008-05-15T23:40:00.000-05:002008-05-15T23:40:00.000-05:00Brendan,I appreciate the response, although not yo...Brendan,<BR/><BR/>I appreciate the response, although not your tone. A bit harsh and defensive, don't you think? Indeed I did read your post, as well as Fulton's. The fact of the matter is that I, like you, have much imagination, as do many people who care about cities and urban issues. I'd prefer that our collective (and scarce) imagination be devoted to rehabilitating places like my home city -Pittsburgh- and other struggling cities like them. Cities that, unlike Las Vegas, possess a reservoir of urbanity as well as some modicum of pedestrian culture. <BR/><BR/>I suppose my point is that to point out that many US cities struggle in the year 2008 is essentially to utter a truism. Pittsburgh, my city, a wonderful city, certainly struggles. In light of that, to devote substantial attention to Las Vegas is woeful and misguided. And, yes, it also seems like a spasm of nostalgia for the 'lost cause' of car-culture.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-89823909232449014922008-05-12T15:30:00.000-05:002008-05-12T15:30:00.000-05:00Brian - I'm normally more than happy to argue a po...Brian - I'm normally more than happy to argue a point, but did you bother to read the post? It never so much as hints at the happy motoring society being held up as some kind of ideal; in fact, it's exactly the opposite. My point is that (pragmatic) optimism will likely be far more effective in making cities like Las Vegas livable in the future. Bleak prognoses like Kunster's do absolutely nothing to inspire the average person, which is exactly who needs to be inspired to change their way of living.<BR/><BR/>Why expect anything of Vegas? If you have to ask that, I'm assuming that you suffer from the same lack of imagination as Kunstler. And lost causes are lost causes, I guess.Brendan Crainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-60406273857759157452008-05-08T22:32:00.000-05:002008-05-08T22:32:00.000-05:00Respectfully, with this post you've made Kunstler'...Respectfully, with this post you've made Kunstler's point for him. You balk, hem, and haw at Fulton's provocations. Deservedly so, for the 'city' of Las Vegas lacks even minimal traits that could qualify it as urban. You seem to agree. In the end though, the 'happy motoring society' captures your imagination, draws you in, and you suggest that Las Vegas - the fullest and most perfect instantiation of the 'happy motoring society' - can indeed work (and thrive!) with just a little sunny optimism. <BR/><BR/>Even if you're right, which I doubt (oil is at $124 today FYI), the next question is normative. Why not concentrate our attention on cities - real cities - with some existing reservoir of publicness, sociality, urban form, design, and function, and let the unplanned hells of Houston and Las Vegas flounder and shrink as they must? Why are we looking toward Las Vegas at all? Why expect anything of it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-27118210845719385702008-05-07T16:12:00.000-05:002008-05-07T16:12:00.000-05:00I find this pursuit to be the next Great City (wit...I find this pursuit to be the next Great City (with caps as you suggest) to be very interesting. I recently wrote a reaction piece to this <A HREF="http://www.american.com/archive/2008/march-april-magazine-contents/lone-star-rising" REL="nofollow">article</A>, where Joel Kotkin claims Houston will hold that title.<BR/><BR/>Where I think Vegas may succeed over Houston is in their capacity to destruct for the sake of progress. Koolhaas presented this phenomenon as a quality of New York in <I>Delirious, New York</I> that led to its unique evolution. Vegas appears to share this quality, and for that reason we can potentially view it as a young New York.<BR/><BR/>The ease in which cities like New York and Vegas can provide a clean slate provide an endless source for new wealth, commerce, entertainment, and culture to take root.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com