Reactions [on My 1979 Massey Lectures] Were

Cities Have The Capability Of Providing Something For Everybody, Only Because, And Only When, They Are Created By Everybody.

I Still Have A Lot Of Family In America. I Still Have A Lot Of Friends There. There Is A Lot That I Admire There Very Much. When I Find America Getting Too Much Criticized Outside America, I Want To Tell Them How Many Things Are Good About It.

Reformers Have Long Observed City People Loitering On Busy Corners, Hanging Around In Candy Stores And Bars And Drinking Soda Popon Stoops, And Have Passed A Judgment, The Gist Of Which Is: "this Is Deplorable! If These People Had Decent Homes And A More Private Or Bosky Outdoor Place, They Wouldn't Be On The Street!" That Judgment Represents A Profound Misunderstanding Of Cities. It Makes No More Sense Than To Drop In At A Testimonial Banquet In A Hotel And Conclude That If These People Had Wives Who Could Cook, They Would Give Their Parties At Home.

Unfortunately [rené] Lévesque Had So Little Self Confidence In Quebec And In The People Themselves, That He Fell For That And, Yes, He'd Say, You Know, It Might Be Ruinous For Us Economically.

I Think That Part Of The Growing Popularity Of The New Urbanism Is Not Simply Because It Is So Rational, And Not Simply Because People Care So Much About Community Or Even Understand It, Or The Relation Of Sprawl To The Ruination Of The Natural World. But They Just Don't Like What Is Around. And They Will Be Ruthless With It.