Why U.S. Builds Good Software But Ugly Cities

"People from other rich countries can scarcely imagine the squalor of the man-made bits of America...How can the richest country in the world look like this?...We're good at making movies and software, and bad at making cars and cities...When we make something in America, our aim is just to get the job done...[improving something usually] means encrusting it with gratuitous ornament. When we want to make a car “better,” we stick tail fins on it...

Ditto for houses. In America you can have either a flimsy box banged together out of two by fours and drywall, or a McMansion—a flimsy box banged together out of two by fours and drywall, but larger, more dramatic-looking, and full of expensive fittings. Rich people don't get better design or craftsmanship; they just get a larger, more conspicstandard house.

Cars aren't the worst things we make in America. Where the just-do-it model fails most dramatically is in our cities -- or rather, exurbs...the result is so depressing that the inhabitants consider it a great treat to fly to Europe and spend a couple weeks living what is, for people there, just everyday life."

[Editor's note: Click "Download PDF", 367 KB. 11 pages.]

Thanks to Carrie Makover