It's all in the Details, Planners!

The Details are not the design, they make the design - Charles Eames -

Sarajevo (1992) Islamic art

The big question is how to design cities? Many perspectives and various ways; yet none is standardized and all solutions are contextualized. In my view, there is no single channel to it; it has to flow from the community and designed by them. Even the city planner is a citizen who is obsessed about cities and probably, dreams about it every night. In these various storylines of cities, the developer is the Joker from Dark Knight, with the sword of destruction for the city’s own benefits. One such character found in historic times is Robert Moses; the villain in Jane Jacob's movie. The dewy-eyed City planners characterize him as a perplexing, charismatic yet powerful bully, who attempted to bulldoze communities for his obsessive-compulsive disorder with highway construction. It seems like his first and last love. One could almost forgive him for it. What everybody forgets to mention and rightfully so, is his well-intentioned start of career through creating public spaces like parks and beaches to serve the poor, right in the era of ’30s. His overpowering belief, just like the aroma of oil musk (I personally don’t fancy musk) blinded him to degree that he trashed the hard copy of Jane Jacob's book as junk. Poor man; therein came to his downfall. Jacob’s city was all about people and their souls. She had no faith in a soulless creature like Moses who took an overview of things. It’s all in detail after all. Cities as humane connections, linkages, and networks of spaces that could be sidewalk, streets, square to building itself. That how life works, life to life; space to space. Her belief was deep connections that make livable cities. The essence of the soul within the body. Her impact is profound; no doubt from slums, favela to ultra-modern developments, the understanding of how it all works lies in details. And Details could only be understood by the community and communicated through the community. Therein, lies the roots of community planning, as Jacob said by people and for people.

Respectfully Dedicated to:

Movies that changed my life and opened my eyes (Zehra Wazir)

Citizen Jane: Battle for the City (2016)

Urbanized (2011)