4 ms·

Le Corbusier was also partly responsible for the American ideal of the ultra-zoned, socially-stratisfied, car-centric city. Le Corbusier saw society as a machin

Le Corbusier was also partly responsible for the American ideal of the ultra-zoned, socially-stratisfied, car-centric city. Le Corbusier saw society as a machine, not an organism, and his work reflects this outlook; a comprehensive plan for alienation and the decay of community.

systemvoltage 5y ago
I want society to be like a machine and less like an organism. Seems like your personal belief system does not align with Le Corbusier. > American ideal of the ultra-zoned, socially-stratisfied, car-centric city IMO the best thing about America. Lots of land. Lots of space to build things. I am not a fan of crowded hectic life, $2M houses, having to ration electricity, live in a cardboard box sized apartment in a highly dense but "walkable" city.
- wwalexander 5y ago
  > I want society to be like a machine and less like an organism. Unfortunately, this desire is at odds with the fundamental nature of a group of organisms, but you are welcome to fashion your own personal life/community into a machine if you so choose. > Seems like your personal belief system does not align with Le Corbusier. It does not, but that’s okay, we’re discussing the pros and cons of architectural philosophies here! Unfortunately, Le Corbusier put no value on the expressed desires and needs of the communities who had to live in his projects, whose buildings were torn down to make way for Le Corbusier’s machines. Humans and communities are not machines and cannot be engineered. > I am not a fan of crowded hectic life, $2M houses, having to ration electricity, live in a cardboard box sized apartment in a highly dense but "walkable" city. The issues with car-centricity go far beyond dense urban areas. The most easily-recognized example is probably the stroad [1], which also discretizes and alienates formerly human-oriented areas. I grew up in rural Maine and have lived in two of America’s largest cities, and I’ve seen our mechanization throughout. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad?wprov=sfti1.
monkeydreams 5y ago
> Le Corbusier was also partly responsible for the American ideal of the ultra-zoned, socially-stratisfied, car-centric city. Le Corbusier saw society as a machine, not an organism, and his work reflects this outlook; a comprehensive plan for alienation and the decay of community. What a myopic perspective on a man who thought that workers should be treated to a life beyond that of misery on the ant-hill of cramped tenements which grew up around factories in which they worked. Just because someone's solutions grew ubiquitous and the flaws in this paradigm grew too obvious, does not mean that these flaws were the plan all along.

systemvoltage 5y ago

I want society to be like a machine and less like an organism. Seems like your personal belief system does not align with Le Corbusier. > American ideal of the ultra-zoned, socially-stratisfied, car-centric city IMO the best thing about America. Lots of land. Lots of space to build things. I am not a fan of crowded hectic life, $2M houses, having to ration electricity, live in a cardboard box sized apartment in a highly dense but "walkable" city.

wwalexander 5y ago
> I want society to be like a machine and less like an organism. Unfortunately, this desire is at odds with the fundamental nature of a group of organisms, but you are welcome to fashion your own personal life/community into a machine if you so choose. > Seems like your personal belief system does not align with Le Corbusier. It does not, but that’s okay, we’re discussing the pros and cons of architectural philosophies here! Unfortunately, Le Corbusier put no value on the expressed desires and needs of the communities who had to live in his projects, whose buildings were torn down to make way for Le Corbusier’s machines. Humans and communities are not machines and cannot be engineered. > I am not a fan of crowded hectic life, $2M houses, having to ration electricity, live in a cardboard box sized apartment in a highly dense but "walkable" city. The issues with car-centricity go far beyond dense urban areas. The most easily-recognized example is probably the stroad [1], which also discretizes and alienates formerly human-oriented areas. I grew up in rural Maine and have lived in two of America’s largest cities, and I’ve seen our mechanization throughout. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad?wprov=sfti1.

monkeydreams 5y ago

> Le Corbusier was also partly responsible for the American ideal of the ultra-zoned, socially-stratisfied, car-centric city. Le Corbusier saw society as a machine, not an organism, and his work reflects this outlook; a comprehensive plan for alienation and the decay of community. What a myopic perspective on a man who thought that workers should be treated to a life beyond that of misery on the ant-hill of cramped tenements which grew up around factories in which they worked. Just because someone's solutions grew ubiquitous and the flaws in this paradigm grew too obvious, does not mean that these flaws were the plan all along.