Never Underestimate The Power Of A City

Writing, Printing, And The Internet Give A False Sense Of Security About The Permanence Of Culture.

Cities Are An Immense Laboratory Of Trial And Error, Failure And Success, In City Building And City Design.

I Have Been Dwelling Upon Downtowns. This Is Not Because Mixtures Of Primary Uses Are Unneeded Elsewhere In Cities. On The Contrary They Are Needed, And The Success Of Mixtures Downtown (on In The Most Intensive Portions Of Cities, Whatever They Are Called) Is Related To The Mixture Possible In Other Part Of Cities.

I Am Ambivalent About London Because I Am So Ambivalent About England In General.

My Mother Used To Say When We Were Children, 'when A Boy Gets A Stick In His Hand, His Brains Run Out The Other End Of It.' Power Is A Stick In The Hand, And I Have Never Heard Of Anybody Who Wielded A Very Big Stick Of Power Whose Brains Did Not Run Out The Other End. As A Nation, Our Brains Are Running Out The Other End Of Our Power Right Now.