City Living

  • Functionality only goes so far

    London prides itself on having a good way of organising its affairs. The unique Tube structure. The roadways that are kept open long after their historic inception. The many residential neighbourhoods that stay safe and reasonable to live in. These are all indicators that our capital is a national treasure in itself.

    Two ticket machines at St. James’s Park station in the City of Westminster, in London.

    However, the debates about its infrastructure stretch far into the lives of those that use it, and they have valid points to make. The plan to pedestrianise Oxford Street is another chapter in its storied history of response to public concern. It’s the type of local democracy people want. A politics that reflects all of our needs, all of the time.

  • Life adds to itself over time

    The value of a city is relative to its people at any given moment. The past isn’t as pleasurable or intense as the present. This is what we know because of the current times and what it can offer and what it can take away. Our own fecklessness or dodging of reality can lead to a diminished return for everyone else.

    A workman renewing a public sign on the side of a building in central London.

    The lifestyle – or lived experience – in any walk of life is the sum total of what happens around us. This is what makes us feel optimistic or pessimistic about our lives. The potential or the decline of opportunity defines us. The increase or decrease of our own portion of it enables or disables us.