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Add to FavoritesIf you think of an advanced society as one where every individual is empowered to live their life in a manner that meets their own expectations, without prejudice and with equal opportunity, then large buildings do not reflect an advanced society. They reflect more the greed of a powerful minority whom by trying to leave their mark in the world, squander the earth's natural resources in a visible display of wealth to gather even more wealth, at the cost of the rest of mankind.
An advanced society should not measure its' worth by the size or value of its' possessions. It should appreciate and reward all levels of work equally, providing an ample supply of food and drink, shelter from the elements, privacy and an opportunity to learn and develop for everyone. It should ensure that the sick and elderly receive the help that they need and that the young are safe and given the freedom to develop into unique adults, not forced to conform to a suitable mould, where individuality is stifled.
Why are large buildings constructed? Is it to prove mans resourcefulness to overcome obstacles, or just to show off a greater wealth and power? It can be argued that a large building is a more economical way of using land to house more people; but not all large buildings are homes and homes built in this way are not perhaps the most pleasant type to live in.
We still wonder at the ingenuity of the early builders and the incredible monuments they left as evidence of their civilisation. The temples, palaces and tombs that we accept as evidence of a developed society cost countless lives. These people had no choice in how they lived their life, labouring under cruel and harsh conditions to build a monument of no benefit to themselves. After all the pyramids are remembered for the pharaohs and architects, not the builders.
The first large buildings were constructed to worship deities, beings more powerful than man, that man feared. Huge temples were constructed to honour these beings and to keep the people submissive. Leaders also built themselves huge palaces, to advertise their superiority over the rest of society, squandering hard earned resources, indulging any depravities and protecting themselves from enemies. Thus raising a false set of values and great hardship for the people at the bottom of the pecking order.
Now role models from films and television identify that success equates to wealth and wealthy people have big homes, spreading across acres of ground to separate them from the people who have given them this wealth. For the homeless is it fair that someone else has a home with five bedrooms at their disposal, when two would adequately meet the needs of their family?
Large buildings can be magnificent and striking in their grandeur, creating a cityscape of wealth and success, but they can also mask the squalor and depravity at their roots, dividing society into those that have and those that have not, reflecting the powerful minority. Perhaps large buildings would reflect an advanced society if they were utilised for the benefit of everyone and that they belonged to the whole community to enjoy.
Learn more about this author, Barbara Guess.
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Society
When speaking of all large buildings, neither is universally true. However, I would assert that more large buildings reflect an advanced society.
Historically , large buildings like the Pyramids of Giza and the Forbidden City of China have been exclusively for the benefit of the rich and powerful minority. In many cases the common folk were completely barred from entering. Many skyscrapers today have a similar but less extreme structure; the more powerful a person is, the higher level condominium or penthouse one is allowed to enter. Even public universities have entrance requirements and turn away many applicants. It may seem at a glance that large buildings are and have always been for a few and only a few.
However, consider what is needed to build all these skyscrapers and other large building. Apart from the thousands of tons of concrete and steel used as materials, these buildings need the work of thousands of laborers in an organized effort over the course of years. Could a primitive society have planned the construction of the Empire State Building as well as engineered the failsafe elevators, water pumping system, electricity grid, ventilation, heating, cooling and underground systems that are required to make it habitable and stable?
Now consider what large buildings give us in return. By building up instead of out we have managed to support population densities far great than what was possible only 150 years ago. Not only has density increased, but it has done so in such a way that each person in the dense area paradoxically has a reasonable portion of private space. More generally of large buildings, we have physical manifestations of larger and more efficient organizations. Plans can be designed faster and better because many of the people involved in it are in the same physical space and can be meet and collaborate as a group better.
Take the New York Stock Exchange. Because all trades are done in a centralized location in a large building the market can react more rapidly to ensure resources are moved to places where they will be of the most use. This means that as many jobs as possible are made, and that the money you invest grows as fast as it can. Although only a qualified minority has regular access to the stock exchange buildings and they benefit most, the rewards do reach the rest of us.
Furthermore, there exist tremendous buildings that are explicitly for the majority of the population such as the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and the CN Tower. These monuments are open to the public and the only private functions they serve are for public tourism. There are few buildings that serve a wealthy minority that can even be compared to these behemoths. There are also public museums such as the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Acropolis Museum in Athens where many of the world's greatest artistic treasures reside for the public to see. Not only are these buildings architectural marvels, but their contents also house evidence of the cultural advancement of our society.
Finally, even if a large building was only made for a few among many at the time, the marvels of the building itself hold more weight than the wealth it once represented. The Pyramids may be remembered for the extreme power the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt held over not only their own people, but enslaved people as well, but they are more renown for their longevity and stability as well being aligned perfectly so that one face is directly north, one directly west, and so on.
The large buildings we know may sometimes be for the wealthy minority, but they were built by advanced societies, they support advanced societies, and they allow a society to be remembered as such.
Learn more about this author, Jack Davis.
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