Why should you care? What does the city mean to you

Lets start by asking a few questions. Why should we be interested in buildings? Why is the physical structure of the city important? How do, or should we interact with the city Take the first question To ask why we should be interested in buildings is like asking why we should be interested in history

The symbolic

Why is the physical structure of the city important? Buildings represent symbolic reference to our history as a community. They also offer a visual reference of where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. So it is important to our visual sense of history what buildings are pulled down and what buildings are left up. Buildings form cultural and institutional ties in the form of public halls, community centers, churches, post offices, banks, art galleries, museums, housing and work place. We also spend half of our lives in them, and of course we have to look at them all the time

We are social animals

Human beings are social animals. That is why we tend to live in close proximity to each other. That is why we create the institutions mentioned above. When cities become too big we create smaller communities within them. The same as when children go to school they don't play with the whole playground but form smaller groups of a more intimate nature (the village). The structure of the city is important to ordinary people in that we can maintain these community structures within the city as a whole. So to tack a question on to this explanation, how well do you think Glasgow city planners deal with this situation?

Examine

The third question is the one you should ask yourself then start looking for the answers. It is the question that made me put this site together. And the answer is by asking questions of each other. And then asking questions of others who seek to determine the fate of our communities

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