The knowledge necessary to build really great towns that people would delight to live and work in, was fully in place, was fully possessed by Americans in our grandparents' day. We have thrown it all into the garbage can.
Having studied good user-interface design in software, it's interesting to know that even towns can be designed with good (or bad) interface design. It's amazing how moronic engineers and designers can be!
For instance, a few years ago when the great mall incursion began, Saratoga Springs, New York decided to "fight back" by installing Victorianoid lampposts and street benches on Broadway. Only they made one slight mistake with the benches. They bolted them into the outside edge of the sidewalks facing toward traffic. This fundamental error in thinking that people sit outdoors to watch cars, not other people, illustrates the pathetic level of civic art as it is practiced here. To make matters worse, the original problem has become incorrectable. As recently as this April, members of the Downtown Business Association begged the Department of Public Works to move the benches around so they faced the sidewalk, and the DPW refused on the grounds that sitters might extend their legs and trip pedestrians!
Amazing! Be sure to read more on the subject.
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