How to Build a Society for All to Enjoy

Structures
structure (noun): the arrangement of or relation between the parts of something complex; the organization of interrelated elements.

1.

My partner trained as an architect, and now he is cursed. His curse is not just working like an architect works, with grueling hours and implacable clients, although that’s true. His curse is seeing like an architect sees. Every structure is, to him, a palimpsest of the structure that could have been, if the people who built things—other architects, of course, and also building-code writers and contractors and construction workers and landscapers and interior designers—had made different choices. If they had made better choices.

Sometimes, the “what-if” structure is only a minor variation on the structure that actually exists: If the cabinet maker were more expert, for instance, the custom wine rack would have fitted perfectly. Other times, the “what-if” structure is more consequential: If better insulation had been installed, then some Texans might not have frozen to death in their homes during this year’s winter storm. Much of the built environment in American cities, if you stop and look at it, really look, is ugly. Even worse—it’s hostile to humans doing basic human things, like walking, or breathing. Not being able to ignore that ugliness and hostility, not being able to unsee how structures could be different, is the architect’s curse.

Structure derives from the Latin, “,” which means “to build.” The infinitive form of the verb allows the subject—the builders doing the building—to