Utopia, the story written by Thomas More in 1516, was an island in a far off sea where by contrast one could compare his home town of London which had grown to ungainly proportions without plan or design. Joyce Purnick could have had this in mind in today’s article in the NY Times about the plans to “modernize” or, perhaps – humanize – the growth of the island, New York City.  Squeezing more and more people into a city built on frameworks going back to colonial days isn’t working anymore, but squeezing in more and more and building higher and higher makes one stop and think about Mr. More and his description of a better place.

Actually, if you study any place it is not the place you planned for yourself to live in.  Your design or designs for it to become better or ultimately the best place for you – will very likely not be a good place for those who come after you.  They probably will wonder how and why you came to the conclusion that this piece of real estate was better than the simple cave your ancestor picked out from all the rest. It was carved by nature and without any enhancement on their part – except, perhaps the wall decorations that they filled with gusto and spirit of the animals they drew on walls expecting to use them for food.  This last is only a guess – for who is alive today who was alive then can tell why fur wearing ancestors did what they did.

But, build they did and their cities (following a dearth of caves for the burgeoning populations) were built one on top of former ones because it was a place near water and a crossing of major routes for trade and passage of new peoples looking for a new home.  For most of human history there were no utopian ideas only real-time solutions. We have artifacts from those ancient times when human populations grew too great to be confined around a fortress or temple or a place to produce goods.  Some are quite beautiful and certainly they are artistic and imaginative for their time and place.  But, I don’t think that the pyramids should be included in a utopian construct of how people should die, much less live.

Enter the architects.  They planned the enormous houses of worship that show the times in which they were imagined.  Enter the architects in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries and they produced the iron, steel, glass and sheathings of brick, marble and other weighty materials that wood alone could not hold up.  And, they had style.  But, those styles are gone and new ones are on the drawing boards even as this is being written. Growing populations demand and expect new ideas.

What it comes down to are real-time solutions while we argue over utopian dreams. Let us cheer the utopians who try to make better that which is too small and too old-fashioned for the thinkers among us. Keep the old but bring in the new – just like every New Year. Happy NEW YEAR everyone!