Published at P2P-Foundation on Octobre 19, 2014.
My place Toten, by some named "Totscana" as a Norwegian counterpart of famous Italian Toscana, has lost much of its charm by suburban houses spread all over this pleasant landscape. This is a horrible thing to do! This way the beautiful landscape is reduced to a kind of Los Angeles like Suburban Hell!
My place Toten, by some named "Totscana" as a Norwegian counterpart of famous Italian Toscana, has lost much of its charm by suburban houses spread all over this pleasant landscape. This is a horrible thing to do! This way the beautiful landscape is reduced to a kind of Los Angeles like Suburban Hell!
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| Suburban housing doesn't belong to the countryside, like in "Totscana". People who are not directly involved in agriculture should live in urban places. Otherwise the countryside becomes reduced to a kind of Suburban Hell, a favorite phrase of Nathan Lewis. |
Read Nathan Lewis' essay:
From the essay:
We don't try to mix "the city" and "farms." Urban places are dense and distinct from farming areas. People who are not directly involved in agriculture should live in urban places -- whether tiny country villages, or huge metropolises. |
| European village. |
European village. Although this village is in an agricultural region, this village itself is a dense urban place, and there is a distinct transition to farmland.
We don't try to mix the "city" and "farms" -- i.e. suburbia.
Chinese village. Again, a dense urban place, and farmlands. Don't mix them.
- Traditional City/Heroic Materialism Series
Related:
We don't try to mix the "city" and "farms" -- i.e. suburbia.
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| Chinese village. |
It seems the US Americans have been teaching children that surburbia is good and urbanism is bad ever since 1952. Thanks alot! - KRISTIAN HOFF-ANDERSENBut of course, modernist "urbanism" is not urbanism, it's nihilism! Only traditional urbanism can support pleasure of life. Nathan Lewis is one of the best urbanist writers, so go on to his fabolous archive to learn more:
- Traditional City/Heroic Materialism Series
The Eco-Technic Civilization. Try to imagine it. If you can imagine it, you can have it! It is actually cheaper and easier to do than today's Suburban Hell. - Nathan Lewis
- A Vision for Architecture as More Than the Sum of Its Parts
- Eneboligens posisjon i den norske folkesjela er essensiell for å forstå den menneskekulden som råder i vårt land
- William Levitt: The Sultan Of Suburbia
- Piscataquis Village Project
- The Fateful Choice: The Pilgrims Assign Private Property Rights in Land
- UN: Only Small Farmers and Agroecology Can Feed the World
- Skviset ut i suburbia
- Norge, et land av modernistisk slum
- Let Christopher Alexander design your life
Nathan Lewis has a great site, one which I came across when doing some research about Christopher Alexander and the New Urbanist movement. It's one of my favorite websites on architecture and urban planning. Speaking of Heroic Materialism, have you ever watched the original BBC series in which Lord Kenneth Clark coined that term? It's a classic and still worth watching. Here is a playlist for all 13 episodes.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFYDyLgHrFHC_YIf7cs9-HpCb6WIBHm1R
Yes, Lewis is really one of the best and most entertaining urban writers! When Alexander becomes a little bit "heavy" sometimes, it can be refreshing to read some by Lewis for a change.
ReplyDeleteThank you for informing me about the origins of the term Heroic Materialism. Look forward to see the documentary.