ABSTRACT
The architectural profession's attention to the wants of the wealthy has also encouraged the over-consumption of limited resources such as fossil fuels, clean water, and non-renewable assets that future generation and other species will need. Most architects follow a 'medical' model of practice, generating custom responses to individual needs of clients able and willing to pay professional-level fees. The minimizing of private space and maximizing of public life also characterized ancient cities, which an author argues helped propel the innovations that led to modern life, from democracy and market economies to science and technology. A city built around innovation would encourage people to live and work study and play, produce and consume in very close proximity, ideally all within an easy walk. While cities have long served as the caldron for innovation, their size makes it hard to bring an innovative idea up to scale in a series of steps.
