I guess a Pope gets to talk about whatever he wants. In a recently released paper, Pope Francis addresses a need for changes in urban planning, including architecture and parking, reports The Washington Post.
His overall message is that a city and the way it functions have a huge impact on their residents’ quality of the life.
In other words: Architects, designers and urban planners have a moral obligation to care about more than what their creations look like. Their decisions determine how the poor live, how communities interact, how cities tax the environment.
From my point of view, it’s revolutionary for a religious figure to be so specific about a matter as secular as parking and public transit. His perspective, as a leader of souls, and not a representative of government or a member of the marketplace, adds weight to his opinion, but doesn’t disguise his idealism.
Money is usually the deciding factor in decisions that apply to the development of cities. So much money has been spent and earned on our current infrastructure, it seems impossible to imagine a different approach. If Pope Francis’ views could be applied in the smallest amount, tangible changes would occur. And that’s the trick. There’s no sense going all utopian about it, because that’s not reality. Reality is compromise, gradual alterations and an intent to do good as much as possible.
Read the rest of the article here.
