10 January 2025
A IS FOR ARTERIES
"As the avenues and streets of a city are nothing less than its arteries and veins, we may well ask what doctor would venture to promise bodily health if he knew that the blood circulation was steadily growing more congested!"
Hugh Ferriss, The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929)
An artery for a healthy city is Not an arterial road.
No, rather urban arteries are life-giving channels pumping air and space through the city, nourishing social activity.
When I look at a city I see a body:
Alive, growing, changing, breathing,
Arteries, veins, capillaries,
Blood, oxygen, nutrients; flowing from inner organs to outer reaches,
Brain, heart, lungs, cells,
Bones, limbs, fingers, skin;
Like lanes, arcades, parks and squares,
Walls, windows and skyline.
Sensations and tastes,
Eyes, ears and touch.
TM