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''CIVILITIS::.
What Cities
Doto Us, And
WhatWe Do
to Cities
Megalopolis . The
mecca
of madness: the sprawling agglom–
eration of concrete, asphalt, steel, brick, glass, billboards,
traffic lights, and glaring
neon;
the
cacophono~s
din of
growling autos,
buses,
trucks and trains, the st:reech of
sirens, the metallic staccato of jackhammers , the shril{ whine
of jet engines. The city. Millions live here. But is
lt
really
worth it?
by
Garner Ted Armstrong
and Robert Kuhn
O
UR PARTY
has just returned from
Rome.
Four and one half hours.
That's what it took from time up in the
morning at the hotel to lift-off at
Rome's Chiampino
airport.
Most of that time was spent in Rome's
traffic snarls, w.ith the driver a1ternately
cursing under his breath, or leaning
nearly half-way out the w.indow to
punctuate his remarks with that
peculiarly Roman gesture of combined
unbridled irritation and futility, the
turned-up hand, with fingers lightly
clenched, waving in agonized resig-
•J
nation.
But if Rome's endless traffic snarls,
due to eotirely too many vehicles wind–
ing their way through too narrow streets
between buildings too old to use and
too historie to tear down, is a problem
which greys the hair of tourists in a
hurry, it is no more so than the
problems of practically every major city
on earth.
Our Vulnerable Habitat
Traffic is what you see - what you
hear - what you struggle through each
day. But equal in their sluggish, barely
functioning inadequacy are increasing
rapid-transit systems, electrical systems,
water supplies, sewage disposal systems,
waste removal systems, anti-pollution
systems, and practically everything else
upon which normal city life depends.
Our cities have matured.