Final thoughts

The solution to this problem is more of a proposal rather than a concrete solution that is one-size fits all, we need to see our cities and how we want to tell the story of our past. Do we want big box stores crowding us from all angles with the shadows of their dimensions overcasting our city views? NYC is a great place to experience life but not every city is NYC and not everyone can live in NYC for the sake of how they’ve been acclimated to live. Do we want sprawling highways where commutes are several hours in advance to our 40-hour work weeks? Los Angeles is an amazing city by all measurements of culture and place but we aren’t Los Angeles. Do we want to understand the desert and its advantages or do we want to imitate other cities for the sake of saying “we’re like this city” and in turn destroy it? The idea of Pleasure of Culture is to get back to enjoying the SouthWestern way of life. There’s many similarities to the places that I’ve mentioned but there are also many differences. If we want to find a solution, we have to come up with one together.

To have a permanent solution in the moment in which the act of urbanization is at an unprecedented rate right now would be foolish. To enact difference, in the heights of urbanization, we must be different. “If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you will get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you will get people and places.” (Project for Public Spaces (2014, April 29). When thinking about the idea of what the future of our collective cities looks like, we must address what we know to be the problem and how to solve it based on the problem. “Unfortunately, government is generally not set up to support public spaces and placemaking. In fact, the structure of departments and the processes they require sometimes impede the creation of successful public spaces. Transportation departments view their mission as moving traffic; parks departments are there to create and manage green space; community development agencies are focused on development of projects, not the spaces in between them. If the ultimate goal of governance, urban institutions, and development is to make places, communities, and regions more prosperous, civilized, and attractive for all people, then government processes need to change to reflect that goal.” (Project for Public Spaces (2014, April 29). As our governments continue to represent and mis-represent us globally, we need change in all formats, in order to preserve the spaces in-between spaces. “You can’t expect to do everything right initially. The best spaces evolve by experimenting with short-term improvements that can be tested and refined over many years.” As we go through these major changes and transformations, everything is designed. This means that it started and it wasn’t perfect from the beginning. Ideas go through many complications and iterations. With all of this in mind, I’d like to start a club called “how we live” where we meet and share ideas with each other as to how to best improve our city. This club will meet once per month with an agenda on how we best believe we can improve our living conditions. From the talk of policy, to how it feels with all five senses to standing on a corner of the city (specified by major and minor crossroads), to enjoying time in ways we find conclusive to our conversations. Finally, we will find ways to which we can bring these ideas to future generations of young people and then assist them in creating their own methods as to how they want to see their future.