BUILDING COMMUNITY - THE CITY THEN & NOW

Long ago in the development of human society, men and women determined it was beneficial to come together to live in community in pursuit of a common good. The community came in many forms, it may have been a clan, a tribe, a farming village, or a city-state. In that community, the individual was best able to flourish. Necessities of sustenance and protection were more effectively met together, allowing time for other, higher pursuits that moved beyond basic survival and began to enrich life – religion, the pursuit of knowledge, the arts. The community formed a civil order that defined the appropriate contribution of each individual toward the common good. Thus, each citizen was viewed as a vital and integral part of a larger collective whole.

The physical setting of this community came to be the city. The organization of the traditional city reflected the civil order formed by the citizens. The most significant institutions of the city were given the most prominent sites, readily accessible to all via the streets and plazas formed between the buildings. Residential blocks buffered private life from the bustle of the public realm. Just as the citizens were viewed as parts of a collective whole, individual buildings were seen as part of a larger collective whole in service of the common good. Together individual buildings defined public outdoor spaces that were occupied by the citizens as much as any interior space. Thus, the city was the highest form of Architecture.

Recall the typical medieval European town with the church adjoining a large plaza at its center. Daily markets took place in the plaza, and often the town hall stood opposite the church. Spiritual and civil authority watched over the conduct of daily business between the citizens. Smaller, simpler residential blocks surrounded the public core. More recently, think of the traditional American town square – a large green space, often with city hall or the county courthouse at its center or adjoining one side, surrounded by the important businesses of the community.

The appearances of the buildings mattered as well in reflecting the organization. Scale, level of detail, and quality of materials all contributed to a building properly representing the status of the institution or function housed within in the hierarchy of the civil order.

Today’s cities and smaller towns, especially here in America, are a far cry from these traditional cities. Today’s cities are too often defined by vacant city cores, sprawling suburbs, large-scale functional zoning, traffic congestion, and an unhealthy environment. Many factors have contributed to this unfortunate transformation:

Industrialization and the growth of private commerce have shifted focus from the common good to maximizing profits for the individual company or its stockholders. So, instead of reflecting their proper place in the communal hierarchy, today’s commercial buildings work to draw as much attention and recognition as possible to the business within.
In the last century, the “American Dream” has been recast as a detached home with an attached garage and an enclosed yard of your own. The result has been increased land consumption, decreased population density, and the erosion of the well-defined city block.
Urban planning has been redefined as something separate and distinct from Architecture. Cities are no longer thought about in their formal organization, but rather in their functional organization. Functional zoning has come to dominate, isolating and protecting our personal suburban castles from the potential noise, dirt, and sometimes chaos of the public realm. Thus, we tend to live, work, and play in places very removed from one another.
Our cities have been re-engineered to prioritize cars before people so we can move most efficiently from zone to zone and out to our suburbs. Cars have become nearly essential to traversing the city. Intimate streets have been replaced by broad boulevards built for speed. Plazas and parks have been replaced by parking lots.

Despite the promises of better living, the citizens of today’s cities do not necessarily seem to be flourishing, to be more readily achieving the common good. Contemporary city life often seems more like a daily obstacle to happiness than a tool in service to obtaining it. As the world’s population becomes increasingly urbanized, the quality of our cities becomes ever more important. Fortunately, civic and business leaders across the nation, and around the globe, in communities large and small, are recognizing this trend and are focusing community attention on “quality of life” and “quality of place.” They recognize that quality of place affects attracting and retaining diverse, talented citizens, sustaining a happy community, and promoting a healthy life.

Here at Civium, we support and promote a return to a more traditional urbanism, a more traditional way of making cities that promotes and advances a common good for all the citizens. Thus, we focus on designing those public and civic institutions that anchor the public life of a community and contribute to enriching the quality of life for all citizens – churches, libraries, community centers, and schools. We design buildings for private business as well. When we do, we do so with an eye to how they impact those who work within their walls and how they impact the broader community they are built within. We seek to create places that enable, enrich, and inspire people as they endeavor to achieve the common good.

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David HeitAugust 30, 2021