普鲁特艾格计划的迷思

人口流失，租户收入下降，maintenance投入无以为继。于是从充满希望与温暖灯光的社区，在二十年间沦落到暴力滋长的城市最暗角落。

背景是战后rise of suburb，是white flight加剧的segregation，是st.louis这座城市失去人口增长和经济发展——这些远比Charles Jencks之流的“现代主义建筑”标靶更重要。但在片中受访者的口述里，背景是她/他的童年，是一生中第一个美好的圣诞夜，或目击手足中弹死去后第一段经年的梦魇…种种种种，属于人的情感和记忆，似乎又更重于一切关于税基的探讨。

他们对punitive rules的体验，所受strong stigmatization的困扰，触目惊心。看这部纪录片前我读过同名的论文，侧重辨析“现代建筑之死”是怎么被步步塑造和得到有力传播的，其中不乏精彩的论说。但只有寥寥两行说起，曾住在其中的人究竟怎么看待它。我那天提出了这个困惑：

“But what remains an important question to me is, what the residents said about their dwelling in this notorious public housing. This article was written carefully, double-checking many facts and details in the discourses and texts, but failed to give a specific source when it mentioned 'they were pleased'. It is one of the most cited articles on Pruitt-Igoe. I found another one with more details also stated that the residents 'functioned reasonably well in the early years of occupancy'.

所以Maria推荐我看看这部纪录片。原来他们有这样多的话想要说；是我想要听。

Housing只是复杂难解社会问题中的一环，Pruitt Igoe的失落，完全说明了它无法独立地成为解决方案。但它又同时是state power作用在individual/private life上最重要的着力点，为它筹谋、用它图谋的政客、官僚、技术人员、社区组织们，何其任重而道远。

结尾处失去亲人的前租客说了一段让我印象深刻的话：

“Would I have been a nicer person [if I had never been in that environment]?

“I am envious of people that have grown up in less trying environments.

“… so it has taught me empathy.”

做一些更善良的事，去回应个体生命中的时间与空间。

用那天讨论时写的总结作这篇短评的结尾吧，“… it can be a reminder against 'depoliticising', integrating with the post-modern circumstances discussed widely in philosophy of architecture and many other fields.”