City Diversity Represents Accident And

My Mother Used To Say When We Were Children, 'when A Boy Gets A Stick In His Hand, His Brains Run Out The Other End Of It.' Power Is A Stick In The Hand, And I Have Never Heard Of Anybody Who Wielded A Very Big Stick Of Power Whose Brains Did Not Run Out The Other End. As A Nation, Our Brains Are Running Out The Other End Of Our Power Right Now.

To Approach A City, Or Even A City Neighborhood, As If It Were A Larger Architectural Problem, Capable Of Being Given Order By Converting It Into A Disciplined Work Of Art, Is To Make The Mistake Of Attempting To Substitute Art For Life. The Results Of Such Profound Confusion Between Art And Life Are Neither Life Nor Art. They Are Taxidermy.

Intricate Minglings Of Different Uses In Cities Are Not A Form Of Chaos. On The Contrary, They Represent A Complex And Highly Developed Form Of Order.

People Who Think Of Themselves As Exiles, I Find, Can Never Really Put Their Lives Together, Really.

Reformers Have Long Observed City People Loitering On Busy Corners, Hanging Around In Candy Stores And Bars And Drinking Soda Popon Stoops, And Have Passed A Judgment, The Gist Of Which Is: "this Is Deplorable! If These People Had Decent Homes And A More Private Or Bosky Outdoor Place, They Wouldn't Be On The Street!" That Judgment Represents A Profound Misunderstanding Of Cities. It Makes No More Sense Than To Drop In At A Testimonial Banquet In A Hotel And Conclude That If These People Had Wives Who Could Cook, They Would Give Their Parties At Home.