Urban Jungle 1

After little investment in [blank_start]infrastructure[blank_end] for 25 years, California’s [blank_start]transport[blank_end] system is groaning. Businesses complain about potential employees turning down [blank_start]job[blank_end] offers that would compel them to spend hours a day [blank_start]commuting[blank_end]. Car makers worry that unless [blank_start]air[blank_end] quality improves they will be ordered to meet yet stricter design standards. Road-pricing has long been championed by economists, keen to impose more of the external costs of driving on [blank_start]road-users[blank_end] by charging them a fee that reflects not just the distance travelled but also the time and route of the journey. [blank_start]Driving[blank_end] imposes a heavier burden when it is done at rush [blank_start]hour[blank_end] so such journeys ought to cost a driver more. In theory, drivers will then adjust their departure times and smooth out the [blank_start]flow[blank_end] of traffic through the day.

America has convinced me that too much space for urban [blank_start]development[blank_end] is a bad thing. When humans are pressed they come up with creative solutions – Manhattan is an outstanding example of a great city [blank_start]built[blank_end] within a 12 x 3 mile plot. Where [blank_start]greenfield[blank_end] expansion is endlessly possible, the results are ugly, [blank_start]ill-planned[blank_end] and socially [blank_start]divisive[blank_end]. Above all, such developments [blank_start]favour[blank_end] the car, and even Americans are coming to see that the car is a [blank_start]problem[blank_end] and not a solution. Minneapolis has just started work on its first mass [blank_start]transit[blank_end] system.

As everyone knows, the Netherlands is one of the most densely [blank_start]populated[blank_end] countries in the world. At the same time, it has a healthy [blank_start]economy[blank_end] and there is a [blank_start]demand[blank_end] for moderately priced [blank_start]housing[blank_end]. The [blank_start]pressure[blank_end] on land is very great, as is the need to [blank_start]reinvent[blank_end] ways of using it. The situation has allowed young architects to [blank_start]prove[blank_end] themselves. The result is that the Netherlands is at present one of the most [blank_start]architecturally[blank_end] vital of countries.