We’ve been having a discussion in our office lately about that old chestnut; how towers and elevator buildings are urban isolators. I realize that its only one day in 7 that I actually see anyone from my floor at the elevator. My old Shanghai apartment connected everyone together effortlessly (maybe even lazily) . I wish the powers that decide weren’t so enamored with towers (or so un-imaginative as to think there’s no other solution).

It’s been 40 years since…was it Candilis?… produced that simple series of towers proving that low-rise and super high-rise can house people at equal density, and 20 years since Stewart Brand outlined the superiority of social performance in low-cheap buildings. We’re still wedded to our towers, however. Sometimes I think only the wrong lessons are being shared between cultures.