First Weird Austin now "Slow Architecture"

keep austin weird
Originally uploaded by yi.

The reason I don't like independent retail promotion campaigns that use the phrase "Keep [X] Weird" is the implication that independent retail is strange. Granted it isn't part of the national and international retail culture from the business side, but it is still part of the national and international retail industry in terms of sourcing and other business aspects.

While looking at "referral" links into the blog, I came across a google search for "slow architecture," obviously the flip side of the "Slow Food" movement.

Slow architecture misses the point.

Building for people is what urban design is all about. It's not that the current culture of architecture and development is "fast". It's that it's an approach for the most part that is disconnected from place and people, more focused on buildings as personal expressions of the artist (architect) and value-engineered besides.

See Close encounters with buildings, by Jan Gehl et al, the Urban Design Compendium, Cy Paumier's Creating a Vibrant City Center, William Whyte's City: Rediscovering the Center, Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City, etc. (And I haven't even read the work of Christopher Alexander...)
Billboard in local "Keep Louisville Weird" campaign.

Index Keywords: urban-design-placemaking