Jason McDowell and the Concrete Fields

Driving through the city of Milwaukee you never really notice the number of parking lots at every corner. In Jason McDowell's article, “These buildings were demolished for soulless surface parking spaces”, you can imagine each desolate concrete field and can hear the slight resentment in McDowell's voice as he mentions the old historic buildings that at one time took up these spaces. He refers to these buildings as ghosts, long gone, but their presence remains in the other architectural elements. Parking lots add nothing to the environment around us besides the convenience of parking. While he mentions how many of these buildings were removed for a number of reasons he also mentions many remedies to take their place; such as parks, seasonal activities, and other creative uses for the land. The erasure of history and personality from the city is quite sad and will continue until one day the entire city is concrete fields and newfangled condos. 

"A parking lot is nobody’s territory"  - Arijit Sen