A focus I saw in Rossi’s writing was how architecture can gain value over time. This can be applicable to how Jane Jacobs saw cities, she promoted the idea of letting buildings age. While she was mainly focused on older buildings allowing for more diversity among the community, Rossi gave it value because as architecture ages, it creates a history for itself and the city. I really liked his idea about permanences being “a past that we are still experiencing”. In doing so they serve as grounding moments for the city as well as a point of comparison for how things have changed over time. I think by placing a focus on the effect of time on a city, we are able to understand more about cities. As well, when we think about the effect of time we can also think about how the experience of the city changes especially on an individual level.
This reading got me thinking about how I view Seattle, as before college I lived there my whole life, but now I spend most of my time away from it, only seeing it once every five months. As a result, when I come back to it, there are always changes that I wasn’t expecting to see. It would feel jarring driving around after I just got back to see what finished constructed, what got torn down, what got renamed. It is interesting to see how my understanding of the city no longer fits into its current reality. Whereas, when I was there the entire time the changes felt more gradual, and I might not really notice it anymore.
Citation
Rossi, Aldo. The Architecture of the City. The MIT Press, 1966.