We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, May 14, 2010

Antwerp’s Ring cycle

from Le Monde Diplomatique. The article looks at the effects of globalization on city habitat by focusing on Antwerp, Belgium.
Urban sprawl, roads choked at rush hour, motorways swamped by lorries, are everyday phenomena. Capitalism in its current form, built around the detached house and the car, around just-in-time distribution and the free movement of merchandise, has also globalised the city. The watchword of modernity, mobility (of things, capital, even people), has superseded all other considerations. Everything must move all the time. This generates gigantic infrastructure projects that turn the city upside down, transforming it into a thoroughfare. Have the architects of this frenzy forgotten that cities are also home to people who want a peaceful life?
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