School of Vice:
This craze to build vast and exclusive [walled] housing estates will be viewed with a feeling of perplexion, tinged with amusement and, perhaps, dismay even by future generations in the same manner some of the “tower block” housing estates built by the state to house the masses across many parts of Europe are now regarded. To be fair, these estates are catered for an emerging class of well –to-do and relatively affluent folks and, the relatively cheaply acquired real estate covering several hundreds of hectares each are among the factors fuelling these housing development projects. In the main, despite charms and attractions notable of some of these projects, these remain critically short of innovations and utility in relations to the consumers in at least two areas:
1- Like much of the “post-modern” buildings of Europe, the houses or “condos” – as they are called in this part of the world – are built too strictly to a monotonous and commercial blueprint. That’s because, these ‘developments’ are first and foremost profit-driven and, not investments in the housing market in terms of its human and social dimensions. In life, most of us would rather crave and pursue distinctions and excitement or individuality over uniformity and boredom, even if this preference may entail an element of chaos, risk and danger to our routine and person. The housing phenomenon current in vogue speaks volumes of this suffocating conformity! Regrettably, their occupants [or most of them] appear not to be bothered by this reality – that’s why they bought those properties in the first place?
2- So many of these housing projects have not found a humane solution to the threat of theft and crime that remains potent throughout the country, particularly, in urban regions and their surrounding spheres in which these “satellite cities” are being erected. Namely, the common solution has been to seal most windows with prison-like metal bars instead of coming up with a more sophisticated, user-friendly deterrence that treats humans as humans, and not as penal inmates or zoo population!
Now, you will never see these ‘condos’ the same way again …
1- Like much of the “post-modern” buildings of Europe, the houses or “condos” – as they are called in this part of the world – are built too strictly to a monotonous and commercial blueprint. That’s because, these ‘developments’ are first and foremost profit-driven and, not investments in the housing market in terms of its human and social dimensions. In life, most of us would rather crave and pursue distinctions and excitement or individuality over uniformity and boredom, even if this preference may entail an element of chaos, risk and danger to our routine and person. The housing phenomenon current in vogue speaks volumes of this suffocating conformity! Regrettably, their occupants [or most of them] appear not to be bothered by this reality – that’s why they bought those properties in the first place?
2- So many of these housing projects have not found a humane solution to the threat of theft and crime that remains potent throughout the country, particularly, in urban regions and their surrounding spheres in which these “satellite cities” are being erected. Namely, the common solution has been to seal most windows with prison-like metal bars instead of coming up with a more sophisticated, user-friendly deterrence that treats humans as humans, and not as penal inmates or zoo population!
Now, you will never see these ‘condos’ the same way again …
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