The 6 Rules of Making Attractive City [VIDEO]
"Cities are a big deal, we pretty much all have to live in them, we should try hard to get them right."
The founder of London's The School of Life Alain de Botton features a manifesto that explains how to make attractive cities in 6 fundamental rules. ![FCT logo]()
This video is a manifesto featuring Alain de Botton, the founder of London's The School of Life, who explains how to make attractive cities with 6 fundamental rules. Botton explains that city planners should identify more scientifically the principles that determine how a city gets to become ugly or pretty. Cities often just focus on functionality rather which makes them soulless, uninspiring and often disconnected with their citizens. The formula for a great city is finding a balance and respecting it's functionality and the identity of the city.
Below 6 fundamental rules that build up his argument for an attractive city:
- Not too chaotic, Not too orderly: The equilibrium between order and variety .
- Visible life: The streets that are full life .
- Compact: highly integrated and well order cities, the importance of squares in cities.
- Orientation and mystery : The balance between big boulevards and small streets.
- Scale: Cities must be compact and dense and its buildings should represent the ambitions and long term needs of citizens.
- Make it local: Buildings shouldn't look the same anywhere as cities need to have strong characters. They need a style of architecture that makes their location specific.
The main obstacles that Botton presents for building beautiful cities are not economical issues but the lack of political will and the intellectual confusion around beauty. This situation results in the development of cities being in the hands of investors, leaving the design of the cities to the free market.
