my environment is flawed, but not more then the next. it has its jewels hidden in the rough exterior, you just have to search for them. would architecture be fun if it was all puppy dogs and ice cream all the time? i dont think so. so i say let the sell outs and money mongers "design" the taco bells and wall marts of the world, it just makes the good projects that much better.

urban system: flawed. there has been a greater embrace to the superfical aspects of 'historical past' [bricks and limstone lintels = so good] than other aspects of architecture. we architects have allowed too many others [real estate jerks and so called design/build weekend warriors] have too much of a say over the way we live [without challenging it] now people only think of there living enviroments in specification terms [no. beds, fittings, etc]. we have moved against density as a reaction to congestion without looking closely at the benifits density [without cars] plays on the quality of life and street activity and the support of local business. we have torn down virtually all high density public housing in chicago with no clear plan for replacement affordable houseing and passed out section 8 certificates to those less fortunate and showed them where the poor south side subarbs are. [this last bit thanks to mr. bill clinton and my fellow democrats].

but on the vision side....millenium park is a great sucess and has done alot to bring many to see a new direction for the city. we are trying to be a sustainable city; from water, energy, brownfields, micro and macro. good grades here. even have tried to buy comed over the last few years on and off. there has been a great effort to re-build the public schools here along with the aging infrastructure in generall, spending $600mil each year on schools for the last 10 years or so. and as hard as it is to grasp, they are trying to improve public ed. now if we can work on those two architecture schools in town....and that newspaper guy, bland.

Many architects seem to want Puppydog city.

I don't

TED,
the things you mentioned are on a political scale. Issues become so much more important then. But do architects have any more say than the average guy on these issues?

kalle,
archs in chicago tend to be lazy and roll over to clients and the planning gurus. fees are so low i think most dont want to bother. and i think where we have gone wrong in the states is by believing that only the buildings matter. the growth of the construction manager in the 60's and 70's diminished our role on projects [and respect with clients] with regard to cost, how to build etc., and the separation grew more during the 80's and 90's with the increasing legal atmosphere we architects find ourselves in. you can be proactive and many of the issues i touched upon were ones i assisted a group called metropolis 2020 in chicago on establishing an agenda for chicagos future.

one only needs to look at the role politics and architects had on shaping the urban enviroment in barcelona. in that case, architects were elected political leaders and great things happen.

chicago being a very union/democratic city and understands even within a slow economy, building and construction keeps the trades active and shows to the rest of the states a very strong forward thinking community. for example over the past 5 years major median planters have been spread throughout most major streets in the city. why? beauty of course, helps tourism. heat island reduction, yes. but its more connected to air polution reduction = childhood illnesses/asthma reduction = less money out of the pocket of city taxes to treat asthama at the county hospital. then many jobs created in landscape community [many small businesses begun with a local christian mens shelter]. a simple seed grow good things. if we look beyond the surface aspects of a building, and speak + educate our clients on how a building is much more than on the surface, we will do much better things.

i will point out about a year ago i heard bland kamin [cant miss an opportunity to knock bland] speak on a radio program here stating that chicago and the mayor has gone way overboard with the planters here. only go to the near west side of chicago and visit the chicago christian league and see a group of men getting back on their feet feeling how their contribution not only was bringing them income but adding to the beauty of the city, then you would say, bring on the planters. thats architecture!