I’d have to say that I will pick the largest section of pavement probably in the country – New York City. This place is one of the biggest cities in the world, with all its boroughs and neighborhoods. I’m sure this place looked much like the greenery of upstate New York before all the development. But New York does something very cool in its urban planning, as many cities do: they incorporate much greenery and parks. With parks like Central and Bryant in Manhattan, there are now planned green spaces for people’s recreation. It’s absolutely fantastic. So, yes, they did pave quite a few square miles over, but incorporating all this green space helps the spirits of the city so much. It made me feel great that there still is reverence for nature in the midst of this city.
Another place that this quote makes me think of is the drive down the Pacific Coast Highway in southern California, where the highway mainly trails the beach from the top to the bottom of the state. As much as I loved the breathtaking scenes around every corner, I did wonder what this place would look like if there wasn’t all this pavement running up the beach. It seems to lack a huge presence of people protesting its existence, which is odd. But, it does give us access to one of the most beautiful parts of the country, which is always the balance when between progressive access and beautiful places. The balance is always hard to reach between providing a means of access to these places (via roads, trains, transit and with them the consequential restaurants and shops) and the art of preserving these glorified spaces, helping to create yet another American argument.
No comments:
Post a Comment