“I would urge you not to come to conferences like this to pat each others’ backs…all of you need to go back and ask how do we change our priorities?”
“We all know that when cities want to learn about best practices, they don’t go to websites. They come to Congresses like this one.”
“We plan buildings. We plan traffic. And the last thing we ask ourselves is…what should be our aspiration for Mexico City? Why should people come here?”
“Man is a walking animal.”
“There is an urgent need to place people in the Center of planning.”
“We need stimuli every 4 seconds for us to feel invited [into a space]…people are not like water, flowing freely through space…as planners we can invite people to do things because people have a mind, and they understand.”
“We are losing the human scale – the idea of local culture [in our cities].”
“Man becomes very small in this environment.”
“Public spaces can act as equilizers where people come together.”
“There is an urgent need for us to think differently, not just replicate patterns of the past.”
“All cities have traffic departments. NO cities have a Department for Public Life.”