The Organic Wholeness of the Small Town Street

The organic wholeness of the small town street was a result of common, everyday attention to details, of intimate care for things intimately used. The discipline of its physical order was based not on uniformity for its own sake, but on a consciousness of, and respect for, what was going on next door. Such awareness and respect were not viewed as a threat to individual identity but as necessary for the production of amenity, charm, and beauty. These concepts are now absent from our civilization. We have become accustomed to living in places where nothing relate to anything else, where disorder, unconsciousness, and the absence of respect reign unchecked. - James Howard Kunstler, "The Geography of Nowhere", page 185

Västerlånggatan Street seen from Järntorget Square in Gamla stan, Stockholm