Introduction

If you've just stumbled onto this blog, please forgive the appearance; it's still under construction. If I've used one of your photos (found on Google) in a lecture and you don't approve, please write a comment and I'll remove it.

The purpose of this blog is to explain the basics of art and culture to English language learners in secondary school in Slovakia. This is not for profit. If you look to your right, you'll see a long list of topics that I plan to cover. This is a large project that will most likely take years to complete, covering some topics I know little about (like dance), so I will be borrowing heavily from other experts, with their permission, giving credit wherever possible. Please be patient, and, of course, all advice is greatly appreciated.

Monday, July 1, 2013

How Poor Architectural Design Hurts Culture

Here's an excellent video presentation by James Kunstler. He uses some big words, and I'll add a vocabulary later, but the gist of his argument is fairly simple. The kinds of architecture he speaks about apply mostly to America because of two factors:

1. America is a country that drives, so Americans ignore a lot of the landscape - it's just a place to drive past, not to look at.
2. Many buildings, such as shops and houses, are now planned by large companies, where cost is the main concern. They're designed to be as economical as possible, but they're often ugly.

As Slovakia becomes more and more like America, with more cars, highways, and megastores, this trend is slowly becoming a problem here.

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