Frank Lloyd Wright once commented that he could design a house that would cause a married couple to divorce within a matter of weeks. By the same logic it is possible to create buildings and cities so badly as to cause a culture to disintegrate socially and come unhinged from nature.
We claim to love our children, and I believe that most of us do. But we have, sheep like, acquiesced in the design of a society that dilutes the expression of genuine love. The result is a growing mistrust of our children that easily turns to fear and dislike. In a recent survey, for example, only one-third of adults believed that today's young people "will eventually make this country a better place". Instead, we find them "rude" and "irresponsible." And often they are.
We find them overly materialistic and unconcerned about politics, values, and improving society. Not infrequently they are verbally and physically violent, fully adapted to a society that is saturated with drugs and violence. Why are the very children that we profess to cherish becoming less than likable and sometimes less than human? Without intending to do so, we have created a society that cannot love its children, indeed one in which the expression of real love is increasingly difficult.
"No society that loved its children would create places like the typical shopping mall."
No society that loved its children would put them in front of television for 4 hours each day. No society that loved its children would make more parking spaces and less cycling paths. No society that loved its children would think that stopping for its children crossing roads was a problem. No society that loved its children would throw garbage on streets that their children play in. No society that loved its children would build more shopping malls than high schools. No society that loved its children would leave behind such a legacy of ugliness( poverty/abuse/neglect) and biotic impoverishment.
Of course we do all of these things in the belief that they are the necessary price of creating a better world for our children. But at some level the children understand that such arguments are phoney. This awareness explains what often appears to be their unfocused anger. Our children often mirror the larger incivility and rudeness that we inflict on them. They mirror the larger self-indulgence of a society organized around machines, instant gratification, and excessive individualism. They understand intuitively that the real curriculum is not what's taught in schools, but what's written on the face of the land.
It is remarkable, in fact, that they are not angrier.
How do we design a ‘childhood’’ for our children?
The starting point is the child itself and its need for joy, safety, play, and the opportunity to safely explore the wider world. Childhood is the "point of intersection between biology and cosmology, where the structuring of our worldviews and our philosophies of human purpose takes place." It is this ‘scripting’ that enables societies to have a nostalgia for the future. Conversely, the child's sense of connection to the world can be damaged by impoverished surroundings and also by too much affluence. It can be destroyed, in other words, when ugliness, both human and ecological, becomes the norm.
Increasingly, our children imitate the values they perceive in us with characteristic juvenile exaggeration and wonder why we get upset by this display of ‘ignorance’ and ‘arrogance’.
Assuming that we can muster the good sense to solve the problem, what would/should we do?
A city organized for the convenience of the automobile and trivial consumption tells young people more about our real values than anything taught in school. Worse, it deflects and distorts their intelligence at a critical point in life.
It is possible, however, to organize cities to teach usefulness, social responsibility, ecological skill, the values of good work, and the higher possibilities of adulthood.
Design, in this larger sense, is not simply the making of things but rather a striving for wholeness. At its best, responsible design is the ultimate manifestation of love--a gift of life, harmony, and beauty to our children and to ‘childhood’. When these responses from the city and with its citizens are made ‘visible’ for all its stakeholders to see and learn from, then the message that we transfer, helps to transform.
Aims of ‘aProCh’ and its Partners / partnerships…
‘aProCh’ believes in the ‘design’ for and the ‘nurturing’ of ‘childhood’.
These initiatives are not only the city’s responsibility but can be made visible with partnerships between business’s / citizen volunteers and institutes which foster social responsibility ( such as CEPT / IIM / NID…)
We claim to love our children, and I believe that most of us do. But we have, sheep like, acquiesced in the design of a society that dilutes the expression of genuine love. The result is a growing mistrust of our children that easily turns to fear and dislike. In a recent survey, for example, only one-third of adults believed that today's young people "will eventually make this country a better place". Instead, we find them "rude" and "irresponsible." And often they are.
We find them overly materialistic and unconcerned about politics, values, and improving society. Not infrequently they are verbally and physically violent, fully adapted to a society that is saturated with drugs and violence. Why are the very children that we profess to cherish becoming less than likable and sometimes less than human? Without intending to do so, we have created a society that cannot love its children, indeed one in which the expression of real love is increasingly difficult.
"No society that loved its children would create places like the typical shopping mall."
No society that loved its children would put them in front of television for 4 hours each day. No society that loved its children would make more parking spaces and less cycling paths. No society that loved its children would think that stopping for its children crossing roads was a problem. No society that loved its children would throw garbage on streets that their children play in. No society that loved its children would build more shopping malls than high schools. No society that loved its children would leave behind such a legacy of ugliness( poverty/abuse/neglect) and biotic impoverishment.
Of course we do all of these things in the belief that they are the necessary price of creating a better world for our children. But at some level the children understand that such arguments are phoney. This awareness explains what often appears to be their unfocused anger. Our children often mirror the larger incivility and rudeness that we inflict on them. They mirror the larger self-indulgence of a society organized around machines, instant gratification, and excessive individualism. They understand intuitively that the real curriculum is not what's taught in schools, but what's written on the face of the land.
It is remarkable, in fact, that they are not angrier.
How do we design a ‘childhood’’ for our children?
The starting point is the child itself and its need for joy, safety, play, and the opportunity to safely explore the wider world. Childhood is the "point of intersection between biology and cosmology, where the structuring of our worldviews and our philosophies of human purpose takes place." It is this ‘scripting’ that enables societies to have a nostalgia for the future. Conversely, the child's sense of connection to the world can be damaged by impoverished surroundings and also by too much affluence. It can be destroyed, in other words, when ugliness, both human and ecological, becomes the norm.
Increasingly, our children imitate the values they perceive in us with characteristic juvenile exaggeration and wonder why we get upset by this display of ‘ignorance’ and ‘arrogance’.
Assuming that we can muster the good sense to solve the problem, what would/should we do?
A city organized for the convenience of the automobile and trivial consumption tells young people more about our real values than anything taught in school. Worse, it deflects and distorts their intelligence at a critical point in life.
It is possible, however, to organize cities to teach usefulness, social responsibility, ecological skill, the values of good work, and the higher possibilities of adulthood.
Design, in this larger sense, is not simply the making of things but rather a striving for wholeness. At its best, responsible design is the ultimate manifestation of love--a gift of life, harmony, and beauty to our children and to ‘childhood’. When these responses from the city and with its citizens are made ‘visible’ for all its stakeholders to see and learn from, then the message that we transfer, helps to transform.
Aims of ‘aProCh’ and its Partners / partnerships…
‘aProCh’ believes in the ‘design’ for and the ‘nurturing’ of ‘childhood’.
These initiatives are not only the city’s responsibility but can be made visible with partnerships between business’s / citizen volunteers and institutes which foster social responsibility ( such as CEPT / IIM / NID…)
