Submitted by Jez Coulson............. jezblog, Dec 14, 2007 11:41

Clearly I'm in the role of artist as luddite....... i don't deny it....... progress/improvement in planetary protection is hard to criticize in and of it's self.... nor do I....... but in the 60's people in Europe the UK in particular tore down old houses to replace them with better new ones..... progress gave us inner city 'estates' and what an American would call 'projects' ringing Paris etc...... this progress ran rough shod over other considerations.... like that people preferred living in their old communities...... the London East End communities were famed for being just that...... and then in many places they were replaced by what are now the nightmare inner city 'estates' suffering contemporary classic violence, alienation and fear thanks to the 'progress' of what was then modern architecture and urban planning. No thought was given to real identity, culture and human scale esthetics. I am sad to see the demise of push bike riding in Beijing ....... this has been a defining iconic method of transport for that city (also green) and part of their culture...... but at least this change is part of a wave of change in millions of peoples lives not the movement of an administrators pen. The taxis could easily be greener, without them having to be a hotchpotch of vehicles or of totally alien designs which come from a different tradition and carry no hint of the history thats gone before. A move to 'greener' taxis does not have to destroy the instantly recognizable iconic New York Cab fleet.. but done like this it will. Cheers Jez XX www.jezblog.com

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.