Following up on de Botton, since architecture is one of my passive interests, I have begun following '[The] Daily Dose of Architecture' blog. Architecture and more generally urban planning are often ignored but extremely important subjects. Like the natural world, changes in our artificially constructed world tends to change gradually, making it easy to ignore the big picture. Meanwhile their real impact on our lives, though difficult to quantify, is at least equivalent to most other factors. Living in the United States, I am daily confronted by congestion, sprawl, cheap construction, and shameful architectural design and urban planning. Bob Marley (discography) rightly referred to the modern cities of Babylon as "Concrete Jungles." Americans especially have allowed their lives to become dominated by the illusory convenience, comfort, and sexiness of their automobiles. In so doing, they have sacrificed their society, economy, environment, and quality of life. Now many emerging economies are in danger of making the same mistakes. Just as travel enriches us by exposing us to new and varied cultures, attitudes, and lifestyles, constant exposure and reminders of new architectural ideas can similarly enrich our lives, foster creativity, and help redirect our long term thinking to a forward, positive direction.
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