Cities Aren't About Happiness

Elizabeth Farrelly suggests that happiness is only a possible side benefit to the true goal of cities, which is "...getting stuff done and, more importantly, generating the ideas that get stuff done."

1 minute read

October 24, 2011, 2:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Farrelly pooh-poohs livability indexes, saying that cities are about work, and "should never be measured principally in(...) pleasure."

"In a good city, you can feel the ideas in the air. Just walking the streets is exciting because the backstory, the front story and side stories tickle your brain cells. A city is an intellectual adventure in a way that the 'burbs can never be," she writes.

Density, says Farrelly, is key to creating places that is full of ideas and work.

Thursday, October 20, 2011 in The Sydney Morning Herald

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