Ugly Urbanization

The urban sprawl of some cities seems to be speeding up!

I don't want to try to sound like an old man or anything, but I was driving into a job this morning as part of my side hustle and one of the things that really amazed me, but at the same time annoyed me, was the massive expansion of urban sprawl and the negative effects that has on so many facets of our lives and the lives of the community.

There is certainly something to be said about having work to do, where we are building things and always doing some type of construction. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because we are being productive and it's an important element to have people be physically and mentally engaged in some type of work task so that they can feel accomplished in their lives.

Where I have issue with that however is when we are constantly tearing down neighborhoods and buildings so that we can put up these gigantic office tower and living tower types of things. These buildings are not what we should be putting our time and effort into!

With the ideas of forcing people to live into cramped living quarters like "smart" cities, there is an increasing need to build all kinds of gigantic rectangular buildings and this annoys me. Gone are the days of interesting architecture in favor of cookie-cutter glass buildings with mass-produced elements to it top to bottom. I know that there is a need for mass-produced things even when building a brick or stone building but with the use of glass everywhere, it becomes an eyesore to see these everywhere. Cities that used to be heterogeneous in their architecture and feel quickly become homogenous and bland. I think this is a shame and travesty for the people that live in them and the kids of our future.

In driving into the big city of the area, I saw buildings that were being put up in increasingly further distances from the city center and that was dismaying. Where there used to be big parking lots for shopping centers they split that in half, committing half of the oversized parking lot to a glass building which is likely going to end up being part offices and part living space, and the other half into a gigantic garage. Instead of sprawling outwards, they are sprawling upwards for precious space.

I like seeing the occasional tall glass building when you are looking at a cityscape but what I really enjoy is the mixture of glass building with ones of stone and ones of brick. It makes for a much more unique and interesting looking area, where you can look out and see elements that vary across your viewpoint. When all of the buildings are the exact same, just different colored windows or different colored outside pieces it is more of an eyesore than anything. I personally think the cities of New York, Los Angeles and other oversized metropolis areas are a blister on the landscape, filled with pus and rot instead of uniqueness and character.

I guess this is likely the way things go with humans, where a hundred years ago lots of the wooden structures were torn down in favor of stone and brick ones because they would last longer. I know that these things go in cycles but what I dislike about these is the cookie-cutter nature of it all. There is one way everybody does it and if there is a different direction taken it is rejected. That is certainly a bit of a loss of character for the future generations.