Paris, in danger, needs you

Posted on September 26, 2016 by David Brussat

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Here is a video, “SOS Paris: Notre capitale a besoin de nous,” running four and a half minutes of mostly still shots adding up, in a most piquant manner, to the danger facing Paris if its mayor has her way. Contact SOS Paris for more information.

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About David Brussat

This blog was begun in 2009 as a feature of the Providence Journal, where I was on the editorial board and wrote a weekly column of architecture criticism for three decades. Architecture Here and There fights the style wars for classical architecture and against modern architecture, no holds barred. History Press asked me to write and in August 2017 published my first book, "Lost Providence." I am now writing my second book. My freelance writing on architecture and other topics addresses issues of design and culture locally and globally. I am a member of the board of the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, which bestowed an Arthur Ross Award on me in 2002. I work from Providence, R.I., where I live with my wife Victoria, my son Billy and our cat Gato. If you would like to employ my writing and editing to improve your work, please email me at my consultancy, dbrussat@gmail.com, or call 401.351.0457. Testimonial: "Your work is so wonderful - you now enter my mind and write what I would have written." - Nikos Salingaros, mathematician at the University of Texas, architectural theorist and author of many books.
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2 Responses to Paris, in danger, needs you

  1. Nikos Salingaros's avatar Nikos Salingaros says:
    September 27, 2016 at 11:59 am

    David,

    I’m sorry, but this video simply will not do anything to save Paris. Pretty old photos and an appeal to the romantic pre-war Paris… it reminds me of preparing the cavalry to go into combat against tanks. The efforts of my friends at SOS-Paris notwithstanding, the quasi-military forces of global finance are lined up to destroy the human scale in order to build monster buildings (and to make monster profits). Supporting this — and far more insidious — is the conditioning of architects over several decades to actually PREFER the industrial tool-sheds that are slated to replace the lovely kiosks. We, everywhere in the world, have allowed a nihilistic conception of built structure to permeate our society. Now it’s time to pay the price.

    Adieu, Paris. C’est ne pas « au revoir » parce-que une fois détruit, on ne le revoit plus jamais !

    Not-so-cheerfully,
    Nikos

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    • David Brussat's avatar David Brussat says:
      September 27, 2016 at 12:50 pm

      I’m afraid you are right, Nikos, about the depressing larger trends. Still, to the extent that a reaction against them is possible, reminders of what is being lost are important. Will that video save the day? Of course not. Will it help? Clearly. Will the day be saved? Probably not. Is that a reason to give up? No, because salvation remains possible, perhaps in the form of a public uprising or in the form of an economic downturn that halts new construction.

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