Value of Architecture

James Howard Kunstler discusses how the current structures of North America are degrading the civic life of the local population, which he discusses in his infrastructure value speech.

Public spaces should serve to inspire and bring about a sense of integrity, because they are the physical manifestations of the cultural capital of society. The public realm shouldn't just express the geography within a society, but also inform people of where they are in their culture and progress. When public realms are degraded, it automatically degrades civic life according to Kunstler.

Infrastructures serve as the capital of any society. Kunstler argues that America is becoming a country that features public infrastructures not worth caring about, since current society has shifted its ideology.