Better Block

My previous post on Jacques Tati’s Playtime does not only show how the mechanization of the city fails to regularize different rhythms in human life, but also give rise to the question: can we ever call the development of a city or the construction of a building as complete especially considering that it will be changed by its users in time to adapt to varying changes? For me, Tati’s movie recalls another well-known allegory by the French author Boris Vian. In his short novel L'Ecume des jours (Froth on the Daydream, 1947), Vian depicts an organic house which changes its shape following the variations in its owner’s wealth. Vian used this allegory both to describe the power of economy and to stress how the domestic space of the 20th Century was contingent on capital.

In last week’s class, we were fortunate enough to have guess speaker Phil Stubbs to speak to us about the role of citizens and planners alike in taking action to change the built environment to adapt to the living conditions of the residents. The Better Block project is a good example of which regulations enforced upon by the planning department may not be perfectly accurate to the living needs of the community.  I find the part where Phil speak about the community testing out the speed limit in Clovelly particularly interesting. This is because the council, through testing and precedent studies, may assume that the speed limit of a certain place to be effective and safe while never fully justify it until it is put to test by the Clovelly community. I am inspired by the people involved in the Better Block as it teaches local communities to care for their town and to take active actions to prove that there are room for improvements as well as that the planning regulations may not equate to the best living condition of a particular place.

I believe that the success of adapting and changing the local built environment to cater for the living needs of the residents relies heavily on the active actions of the community. Better Block is an example of which the role of improving a neighbourhood is not limited to those in the planning department or local council. The local residents in the neighbourhood could play a vital role in the improvement of the neighbourhood as well through projects that brings together community in the attempt of making a place better such as Better Block.