Reflection 1: San Jose, Streetwise—On the Principles of an Attractive City

In 2015, philosopher Alain de Botton laid out his vision for what makes for an aesthetically-pleasing city in his presentation, "How To Make an Attractive City." Though he admits that the overwhelming amount of cities in the world (especially those in America) are ill-designed and/or aesthetically uninspiring, he offers "Six Fundamental Things a City Must Get Right":

1. Not too chaotic, not too ordered: The balance of variety and order in buildings
2. Visible life: Is a street alive or is it dead—and why?
3. Compactness: How dense is a city?
4. Orientation and mystery: Is it city's grid well designed—and does it still leave room for people to get pleasantly lost?
5. Scale: What are the biggest buildings in a city and what do they honor?
6. Make it local: A place must look unique, have it's own local character.

For your first reflection, consider the merits of downtown San Jose as defined by de Botton's criteria. Based upon your observations on our walk, answer each of the six points in 4-5 sentences each.

Additionally, as Google has spurred a developing boom in downtown, here are a few of the over two dozen projects in various stages of planning or construction:

• Silvery Towers (under construction across from San Pedro Square Public Market)
• Miro (under construction across from San Jose City Hall)
• The Graduate (under construction two blocks from SJSU)
• Boston Properties' Tech Campus (proposed for Discovery Meadow)
• Adobe Tower 4 (construction begins 2019)
• Museum Place (proposed adjacent to The Tech)
• Sobrato Towers (proposed across from Plaza de Cesar Chavez) 
• Dillabough Valley Title Property (proposed in SoFA, across from Original Joe's) 
• Starcity Co-Living Proposal (proposed south of San Pedro Square)

Required:

• MLA Style
• 375-500 words

Due: Thu 2.21