How to Make an Attractive City


How to Make an Attractive City – The School of Life YouTube Channel

1. Not too chaotic, not too ordered.

      • Variety and order (example:)
        1. Variety – form and color
        2. Order – width and height
      • Not too chaotic and not too ordered
        1. Too chaotic is off putting
        2. Too ordered is boring
      • Humans crave organized complexity

2. Visible life.

      • Don’t hide signs of life.
      • Have work on show.

3. Compact.

      • Humans need “balancing and moderating influence of living close to other people in uplifting surroundings.”
      • Too much spacing wastes resources.
      • The art of a public square: not too big, not too small.
        1. Make squares with 100-foot diameter.
        2. Must offer feeling of containment, but not claustrophobia.

4. Orientation and mystery.

      • Balance of small streets (mystery) and big ones (orientation).

5. Scale.

      • Biggest building show actual importance of a society.
      • Ideal height of a building is five stories.
      • Make buildings dense, compact, and tight.
      • Make occasional huge buildings for something special for all of humanity.

6. Make it local.

      • Don’t make buildings look just like everywhere else.
      • Cities need to use local materials and forms.
      • Cities need to have strong characters.