The City Paper article about Leon Krier provokes me to say this:
I agree with Krier (gasp!) in one point: Modernism has failed cities. Modernism has advanced building design, technology and style but it hasn't brought much in terms of plausible or desirable urban form., 101 year old Oscar Niemeyer (Brasilia) notwithstanding.
But beyond that, I'd like to send Krier on a long journey to China, South America, Africa and India or anywhere where the action is.
The euro-centric debates wafting around Prince Charles' taste are irrelevant. So are the increasingly stale word acrobatics of Mr. Kuenstler who started out so refreshingly concise and has now expanded to be a clown on every stage. (oops!)
The world's population is rapidly expanding with over 2/3 people now living in urbanized areas. No way that Poundbury (the Prince's TND in England's countryside) can be the solution for Hongkong, Shanghai, Mumbai, Sao Paulo or Kinshasa. Rem Koolhaas (for example) has so infinitely more to say about this than Krier. Just think of Euralille, the new high speed rail town between London and Paris.
When Vetruvius wrote his opus De Architectura the world had maybe 300 million people. We are now at 6.7 billion. Time to figure out what this means for cities, transportation and architecture. Let the D:Center, Morgan, MICA and College Park get on board with this. I think it is worth a vigorous inquiry!
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