Of Human Design

JeanYves Lemoigne - from I Am a Pictogram

I'll always remember the day I found out what cities are made of. Walking home from downtown, I suddenly began to see the human decisions behind the buildings I passed. It sounds simple, but this realization flooded my perception like a lighting gel, overlaying human intention over the bricks instead of color. Behind every billboard there is someone who built it and someone who chose its colors, someone who thought it was a good idea to put it there and someone who was intended to see it. What seems to be an inconvenient turn in the sidewalk is actually the design of someone who didn't want you to be be hit by a bus inching over the low curb. You, and thousands of other people, haven't been hit by this bus and don't ever give it a thought. The stoplights are built for organization, lines drawn for moderation, bedrooms designed for procreation, thirty-seven floors stacked for productivity. The convenience store is there because someone needs to eat and forgot to buy groceries this weekend. We define the city as much as it defines us.

The Rural Alberta Advantage Don't Haunt This Place (mp3)