I grew up in a mid-sized city in the Czech Republic and have spent a fair amount in large cities around the world, like Prague, Barcelona, and now Denver. Having learned this quarter about cities and their challenges, I can now appreciate cities for more than their art museums, shopping malls, and trendy restaurants.
Cities provide a wide variety of attractions and services to a wide variety of people. With some neighborhoods undergoing growth, others declining, and others a rebirth, it’s tough to generalize an entire city. Cities, with their dense housing, offer cultural diversity that can’t be duplicated in suburbs or rural villages. New urbanism developments bring young professionals and senior citizens together into the same housing development, and do the same with workers from different economic classes. Mexican, Indian, and Vietnamese restaurants provide cultural variety to urban dining scenes. New York is often called a “Melting Pot” for its mix of different cultures, but the same mix, on a smaller scale, can be found in most metropolitan cities. How a city brings these people and provides for their needs is what’s most important.
Using Denver as an example, parks like Civic Center Park balance the city’s history with its future. This is reflected in the park’s choice of monuments. Cowboys and Indians are depicted, but just behind these historic monuments is the state capitol with solar panels on the roof. The contrast between old and new is telling and cities can’t forget their past, but must always keep moving forward.
Progress is also found in a city’s transportation system. While Denver works to catch up to American east coast cities and to European cities, urban planners are trying to answer challenging questions about future development. Highways stretch into American suburbs and commuters are paying higher fuel costs. Land once used for agricultural is being lost. Urban farming is becoming more frequent with chickens filling suburban backyards. New urbanist developments continue to play a greater role as cities rebuild to meet the demands of these changing times.
I still don’t know if I want to live in a large city. Despite the many appeals of cities – the close proximity to jobs, culture, and everything a consumer could ever need – I see many negative things too. I’ve gone past the Occupy Denver protestors many times over the past two months and understand that the protests are even worse in New York, Portland, and Salt Lake. Things like this give cities a poor light and add to the crime and traffic that also plague cities around the world. I’m still uncertain about personal my thoughts on cities in general then, but I can now see into the city with a greater understanding about what makes its unique, both good and bad.
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| Occupy Denver protest. |
