What have I learned?

I guess the right thing to do for the last journal entry is to ask myself, what I have I learned about cities, planning and public spaces? Two main lessons I have learned might be:

One thing I have learned, primarily from the readings of Chicago, is the way that cities are connected to the countryside or "hinterland". I knew that cities relied on the surrounding countryside for resources, but reading about the way Chicago grew as a result of its large hinterland made me realise just how connected they are, and how defining areas as either the "country" or the "city" is potentially misleading as it poses them as two separate entities. 

Another thing I learned about was how to look at cities. Looking at (but not only) the urban form, the people, the planning policies, the economic flows etc. Previously, and in line with my Architecture degree, I would have looked only at the urban form, but I know in greater depth now how much other elements affect the final urban form and the people. Particularly the idea of "flows" discussed in the most recent lecturers  was interesting, as it identifies and emphasises how things are changeable through time and space. Previously when discussing things changing through time I would have said that something might be "transient", but it implies that this characteristic, whether it is the sunlight, weather, people, economic regimes etc  comes and then disappears. The use of the idea of flows however implies that things morph, change, collide, interact, and feed of each other. 

Of course there are more, but I feel that as I continue my architecture degree, travel, and see more of the world, what I see and experience will continue remind me of lessons learned in this course.