My thoughts after viewing the Arthur Erickson show at the Vancouver Art Gallery…
Our pioneer mentality that we must conquer nature is suicidal. It is creating an environment that is alien, dirty, and dangerous.
Must our cities be a subversion of nature, a denial of the local geography, environment, ecosystem?
This Arthur Erickson speech from 1972 sounds like it could have been made last year and been just as relevant.
Our self-destructive path begins with the way we plan our transportation systems and public spaces.
On a separate, but arguably related issue, Erickson says, “there has never been a device which embodied greater antipathy to the idea of community than the North American grid…”