Thursday, May 30, 2013

From Project for Public Spaces
Streets That Work

The optimist says the glass is half full.
The pessimist says the glass is half empty.
The engineer looks at the glass and concludes it is twice as big as it needs to be.
But you are the thirsty person, you don’t care about who is right; 
you just want a drink!

In the above joke the community is the thirsty person; the advocates are either the optimist or pessimist; and the engineer plays himself. The customer isn’t engaged, and those who are in the fray carry solutions that fit their preconceived notion of what the problem is. These “solutions” obstruct our ability to have a meaningful conversation about the problem we are trying to solve. Not every street needs a bike lane; not every congested road needs to be widened; some streets are successful places despite failing our definition of a complete street. Some streets just work. Read more: Project for Public Spaces | Streets That Work

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