• WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    7 months ago

    I remember some discourse where if you zoom out it’s not an urban hellsprawl and it’s actually like a haven for truckers/people going long distances on an interstate.

    You can still argue that it’s an ugly aesthetic. It’s gross and gray with logos everwhere. Everything that nature isn’t touching is ugly in this photo. A big honking cafeteria with some central space and a park would look infinitely better. You could put workout equipment to stretch your legs and pump the heart during a long trek and it would be like a literal sanctuary. Each restaurant has to reinvent the wheel and atomize everyone with their own building instead of just getting one janitorial service, one sequestered building, and leaving a whole lot of space for not advertising and not individual parking lots. There’s no place to sit or exist unless you’re spending money. The most beauty around you are the vistas full of things that people didn’t build. The American mind can no longer imagine a public space used for something besides commerce. You can have all your competition and civil religion in the cafeteria. For as far as this picture is concerned it can even facilitate competition by helping truckers. It just doesn’t have to contribute to making hell on Earth.

    • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      There’s a handful of those places minus the gym. Vince Lombardi service area in Jersey comes to mind. It still ends up being kinda dumpy just because of all the cars, and the space required to accommodate them. What you’re describing is essentially a mall in miniature