Passage Responses from Schindler’s “Architectural Exclusion”

3. Architectural regulation is “powerful” in a way because of the effects of it are “unseen” which means that infrastructure including roads, bridges, and buildings are impacting the daily lives of people in an unnoticeable way. The government affects where we choose to drive to or where we decide to walk in an urban setting. For instance, due to the tight architectural block setting people are so used to the traffic in a busy city like New York City that taking taxis, subways or even choosing to walk has become part of the daily experience for a resident there. The construction of new bridges in order to reduce traffic would affect people because they would be willing to choose that much easier route. The regulation set there is unseen because in a way it is needed which makes it powerful.

4. I personally have never thought of a “simple aesthetic design” such as a park bench to be the reason why a homeless person could not go to sleep because it took up their space. It is all about one’s perspective towards that bench depending on their social status. An above average man working in the city could consider that bench to be an area to take a break at or attend a phone call. On the other hand, a homeless person would consider it be a barrier because that used to be the spot where they used to sleep. In a way this passages shows how the government intends to build park benches or other architecture for the benefit of the people but in a way it reflects discrimination towards the needy.

6. This passages seems a bit ironic how the government would prioritize the flow of traffic “through a physical space” while focusing on “civil engineering” rather than prioritizing on an “equal access to a physical space for all” focusing on civil rights. Sometimes what is the most important gets put to the side in an attempt to fixing what is the least important. This passage describes how the government pays more attention to fixing the traffic instead of fixing the rights of people. In my opinion, focusing on civil right is way more important.

12. Schindler describes how the wealthy oppose the transit stops in their own communities to prevent the the people that live in the poorer area to “easily access these wealthier areas”. This is obvious social status discrimination because the wealthy probably don’t want the poor to affect their wealthy lifestyle. With the poor having access to these transit stops, they could have negative impacts in the wealthy communities by being tempted to steal or do other crimes. The wealthy are promoting a division between the upper and lower class in order to keep their area safe. This affects the poorer people though because they wouldn’t have access to what’s available in the richer areas such as jobs or other great opportunities for them to become successful.