Friedman asserted that the people living in the city and sleeping in its homes should have control over how the space is used. Not just by rearranging furniture, but by literally moving walls, and changing rooms.
In the 1950s, Friedman published drawings for his Spatial City in response to France’s housing shortage. The city was to be built on moveable stilts above existing landscapes, with plenty of air and light above and below. It would enable people to adapt their city-in-the-sky as needed as they aged or had kids, even as the climate changed. “No city is ever frozen. It is transforming; it is all about constant transformation all around us. People should take their initiative. The trial and error process starts in your mind,” he told ArchDaily in 2020.
Often, planning and building take time, money, and political will. But forget all that for now and think of this past year and how the pandemic affected your daily patterns, how you got food, where you drove, or how the kitchen table became your desk.
So what if you designed a city for the needs of today? What would that look like? Would you plant community gardens on every block? Make apartment buildings taller? Get rid of cars altogether? Put daycare centers or nightclubs on stilts in the clouds?
All month we’ve been looking at how people have used, preserved, and changed the decades-old modern structures in their hometowns. But now we want to hear from you. Tell us on social media what your ideal city looks like, what it would absolutely contain, and what it would absolutely not, and why, and we’ll share your ideas next week.
This July we’re mad about modern architecture. Journey through buildings, cities, zoos, and more! #gettymodernarchitecture
