Leon Krier's Lecture at NSAD on Nov. 12 2009

It is sad to say, i wasn't able to pay attention to his lecture at all. I only managed to hear the beginning of it, only the part where he didn't need to use mass transportation system at all till age 20, 50 years ago he would not consider stopping in San Diego at all, something about the lintel and shutters. Some students have negative comments about his lecture, i really can't comment on it but i did buy his autographed book! Just flipping through it, reading some bullet points here and there and the diagrams are helping me rethinking about my project. It has been 30 minutes since i opened his book and i'm only 1/3 done!

Another thing he mentioned in the lecture that i just remembered. I think it was a rhetorical question? He said something along the lines that nowadays cities continues to grow and grow to satisfy the needs of a population that grows exponentially, even if we plan for it it still stops growing, when will we see the fruit of the seed that is urban planning, is it never going to stop, and never ending like this run on sentence/paragraph?

Cities should have a growth limit, but we already have that (green belt). Densities of cities slowly increase....when does density becomes overcrowding (i forgot where i heard/read that from)? when cities have reached "maximum" density do they turn people away? When all cities have reached their limit do we have a US version of favela or slums out in "un urban" areas, or would they try to take them in....which causes crowding of people?

Which brings back the question to the area i'm trying to develop for my thesis, should i plan for the maximum FAR of my site, which will allow x number of x people and x number of residents and x amount of visitors per day? Or build to a lower FAR so there are spaces for the place to evolve and grow in areas that it needs to? I think the answer is clear, but if i use the earlier said model, revenue and production can be easily calculated and stay constant, would it make for a boring area after a while? All these questions and no answers....yet. I need to develop a stronger theory and write it out, maybe a long long manifesto....or a guide book for the residents of my thesis.....gotta think more.

Update: been 1 hr and half way through....must stop....for now :)