Why “beauty” matters

“Beauty” is an elusive, notoriously contested – and anything but unproblematic – concept, which is probably part of the reason why we don’t talk about it as much as we should in urban planning and related fields.

In a recent piece for Illuminem, I argue that we ought to engage with it more, pushing back against the false opposition between necessity and beauty and making the case that beauty – understood as the careful, imaginative shaping of environments that meet human cognitive, emotional, and social needs – is fundamental to the creation of “sustainable” and meaningful spaces and places. You can read the full piece here.