Chris Costello
Donna Laquidara
ENG 4102—Critical Writing Workshop
12/5/00

The Impact of Poor Environmental Design
on the Human Psyche (page 4)

Proposed Solutions
It is hopefully clear that the current state of our cities and suburbs is cause for alarm. Fortunately, however, movements in some circles of contemporary urban design are stirring up new ideas to address some of these problems. A solution known as “New Urbanism” promotes methods that works to meet the needs of modern urban societies without discarding ideals of the past. Its proponents advocate the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support urban restoration, suburban reconfiguration and nature conservation. They also believe that all elements of urban development must address the issues of environment, economics, community and design, simultaneously. The Congress for the New Urbanism states in its website:

“We stand for the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, the conservation of natural environments and the preservation of our built legacy.…Streets and squares should be safe, comfortable, and interesting to the pedestrian. Properly configured, they encourage walking and enable neighbors to know each other and protect their communities.…Cities and towns should be shaped by physically defined and universally accessible public spaces and community institutions; urban places should be framed by architecture and landscape design that celebrate local history, climate, ecology, and building practice” (About CNU).

New Urbanism promotes the idea of building places that people want to live and work in. I believe that this approach will help restore beauty and community in our living spaces which will result in a greater sense of contentment for the individual and society as a whole.

An even greater hope remains in the restructuring the curriculums of our public schools to stress the importance of art and design training for our children. History reminds us of the Medici family that governed Florence for several generations. They were well educated patrons of the arts and were instrumental in the design of this breathtaking city during the Italian Renaissance. Lorenzo de Medici sponsored schools that trained renowned artisans who created its magnificent cathedrals, palaces and city squares that are now the admiration of the world. Today, as then, art training should be given the same priority as science and math all the way through high school. Cindy Haug, Fourth Grade Teacher at the Gateway School, an accredited independent grade school in Santa Cruz, California says: “There are several enduring values I can see in artistic education, and all of these greatly assist children to grow up with confidence and perseverance, enabling them to be thinking, observant and conscious adults.…In today's world, we are often passive participants in events and not only lack the power to change things, but also lack the involvement and desire to make changes. The artistic process promotes independent thinking and decision making” (Haug, “teacher”). I believe that a greater focus placed on art education will help to create a new generation of competent architects, city planners, zoning board members, developers, and politicians that will be less inclined to tolerate disheartening architecture and thoughtless urban planning. A new generation of responsible adult decision makers will be cultivated who value art and see its connection with life around them. They will have learned lessons from the failures of the twentieth century and will hopefully, like the Medicis, encourage the development of beautiful cities once again.

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©2007 Chris Costello. All rights reserved.