This conversation worked to my benefit because Happiness is key in any aspect of life. Going back to the Psychological conversation, if people were to say, “I get to go to work” instead of “I have to go to work”….there is a sense of happiness to start off your day. Something like this would reflect in your design aspects or whatever job one would have because you have a positive attitude on things. -Daniel Savoca
My personal reflection from today’s class conversation is that social interaction is need to have a “Happy City.” We all need it and want social acceptance and interaction. Social Media is one of the biggest components, we all go on social media and interact on that level. But as architects how can we bring those interaction to the streets. Jane Jacobs wanted to completely remove the idea of the automobile and get people walking and interact on the street.
Respect and dignity for all people living in the neighborhood
Opportunities for social interaction
To design efficient but comfortable living spaces
Listen to peoples’ direct needs and concerns then try to strike a balance
Happiness for me is when I do something or help others, its like a self-less act. Once in a while, it is nice to do something for others. Music other happiness through positive comments and thought. Music makes me happiness because it helps me to express my emotion and it also gives me positive thoughts. Art (drawing or looking a arts) makes me happiness. Money is not important for me. I strongly believe that money doesn’t buy happiness. Interacting with others makes me happy. If one believe on herself/himself, they can be happy. Always try to find positivist around you.
happiness has a lot of meanings and people can have different opinions on happiness. for me happiness depends on the situation of my family. i was raised with a family oriented mindset. we would always be together in tough times and “happy” times. we would fix our problems together. i didn’t know how valuable this was until my sisters moved out the house. now its only me my dad and we miss them but nothing is given in life for eternity. so i found out that i value happiness after certain things happen and not at the moment. therefore i needed to change my mindset on happiness and value it at the moment and not when its gone. i use this same philosophy with my design and in architecture. we could never be the great architects from the past but we could become the greatest architect for own life and professional practice. us as architects should be happy with our design and not try to fit into other peoples thinking and believe. we need to trust or design to the point where even if other people don’t it or appreciate it, we are satisfied and confident about our work and design no matter what other think of the project. we should never try to fit in, we are our own architects.
From this seminar i thought it was interesting to listen to the different views on how happiness can be interpreted. Everyone had their personal opinion about happiness or at least the different factors that are involved with happiness. Whether it was money, relationships, the sharing of emotions, family etc. they all seemed to play a role with happiness. In my opinion it was definitely a great experience to listen to how all of these ideas/definitions of happiness differed and compared to everyone else’s and mine as well.
After having read the book by Charles Montgomery, it really made me think about how I interact with others and the place in which I live. I’ve looked into myself and noticed that I am a shy person. Honestly, I think that’s not a good thing whatsoever. Being shy doesn’t allow me to express myself and open up to people like my family and friends. What we talked about in class today really caught my attention was when it was mentioned that social interaction is important. I know what I am capable of as far as meeting people and starting conversation but sometimes I fear what people may think of me. It stresses me out to know that people can be so judgmental sometimes, which is why i find myself holding back and not expressing myself to the point where it’s not doing well for myself and those around me. I agree that to be happy and to be optimistic is my responsibility and that that should be my first priority in life. Internally, I can tell you that I am a very upbeat, happy person, I am super optimistic, I like to laugh and make people laugh and have good vibes around people, I don’t like to dwell on the negatives. But externally, I think all that is filtered out or “thrown away” figuratively speaking by fear.
In Charles Montgomery’s “Happy City”, we began to see what is needed to make a happy city. It is important to think about how architecture and design affects how the people feel and interact with it. For example, when planning out the layout of a city, does it give a dreary sense of living, or does it help promote a positive experience through the space? By briefly taking a look at Colombia, which had a sudden increase in it’s population, Montgomery stated that the population began to feel more like cattle, and had their dignity taken away from them due to the treatment they received. He proposed looking at cities such as Los Angeles and New York City in order to try and solve these problems.
The conversation about happiness in general was very broad and in detail at the same time. I have picked up a lot of happiness points that we read in the book called “Happy City” by Charles Montgomery.The whole concept about having an Utopian urban society is very complicated and easy to say which is impossible. There are so many different reasons on why its so much difficult to achieve such a perfect society with great urban city. Socio-economic and political constraints are the general and main aspects of making the the urban life complicated. In order to achieve the happiness is to start with me and you then pass it to others by making them affected and influenced by our efforts. Space and time are the main resources that have to be measured and be able to surpass and have efficacy in our value of our lives in urban city.
I personal believe that happiness is having no stress. Being comfortable with yourself, doing things that don’t require you to think about much. Something else that brings me happiness is giving others joy or just making sure that i can be helpful to them in any way.
The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.
