In many early-modern Western cities, one’s wealth was directly related to their proximity to the ground; the richer folks lived over the street, above their poorer counterparts who resided at street level. Before the advent of modern plumbing and sanitation, one would dispose of waste, human and otherwise, by pouring it out of the window onto the street below. Thus, whether in New York, London or Paris, it was enormously desirable to live off of the street, where one could perform this disposing rather than find oneself on the business end of a chamber pot.
Fast-forward several centuries to the typical downtown in a post-industrial city, where a complete lack of activity at night offsets the hustle and bustle of the business day. Banking and financial institutions dominate the business sector that is largely devoid of permanent residents other than the homeless and destitute. Rather than moving above their poorer brethren, the rich now leave the street behind for greener pastures. And despite the developments in sewer and sanitation systems from the 16th century to today, the relationship between the winners and losers in society has remained constant; the very poor are left to live in the filth of the rich. The homeless wait outside the steel and glass towers awaiting some pittance of charity, and pick through the mounds of Corporate America’s trash in order to survive. Rather than pour their waste from the window, the wealthy now pay someone to deliver it to the poor. On any given work day in any financial district one can behold the unlikely encounter between the incredibly rich and incredibly poor. It is an uncomfortable experience to watch men and women in designer suits and luxury cars share the same space as Veterans and junkies in tattered rags. To see a person dig through trash to retrieve the remnants of food that someone else discarded just previously is troubling. To be complicit in such an exchange is something else entirely.
# posted by workplex @ 14:45
