This visit to the 2012 Biennale d’ Architettura in Venice was a gold mine for me in several aspects: No pressures, no reason for consideration of other’s preferences as I was walking alone, a fabulous setting in those old naval base halls, and a tremendous bouquet of the finest visionary powers from artist with a vision for space from all over the world. What a treat! I have to admit however that I was really tired after that day!
Venice certainly is regarded as “photographed to death”, as I guess a gazillion of snaps is taken every day there. But it still did teach me a lesson regarding the usage of public space: The absence of motorized individual two- or four-wheel traffic is outright wonderful: places and streets are for women, men, kids – just completely the opposite of our cities where humans are marginalized in favour of machines. Space to live, places to “be”, to voluntarily spend time, almost no engine noise, this all makes up for a appreciable environment with a high quality of living. It’s high time to learn from this experience and to modify our hometowns into places for people and not so much for cars.