Spaciousness and Crowding (part 1)

Crowdedness. From http://enchantingchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/crowdedness.jpg

The feeling of spaciousness is related to our vivéncies. It happened to me, that living many years in such a crowded city as Buenos Aires, I felt something was missing in Californian streets, I could feel the emptiness, my tall buildings were not protecting me from the streets….On the other hand, an Argentine friend told me her daughter, being born in California, and raised up in the mountains, felt dizziness when she was a ¨compressed¨ tourist in Buenos Aires city.

Below, it is the reference for chapter five, in the book ¨Space and Place¨ by Yi Fu Tuan. Let us do this exercise: a combination of Yi Fu Tuan´s words and Yes´ lyrics in the voice of Jon Anderson ¨Heart of the Sunrise¨. (One of my favorite songs).

¨Space and spaciousness are closely related terms, as are population density and crowding; but ample space is not always experienced as spaciousness, and high density does not necessarily mean crowding. Spaciousness and crowding are antithetical feelings. The point as which one feeling turns into another depends on conditions that are hard to generalize. To understand how space and human number, spaciousness and crowding are related….¨. ¨Spaciousness is closely associated with the sense of being free. Freedom implies space; it means having the power and enough room in which to act. Being free has several levels of meaning. Fundamental is the ability to transcend the present condition, and this transcendence is most simply manifest as the elementary power to move. In the act of moving, space and its attributes are directly experienced. An immobile person will have difficulty mastering even primitive ideas of abstract space, for such ideas develop into movement –out of the direct experiencing of space through movement.¨

Crowded city. http://trendsupdates.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/crowded-city.jpg

Let us see what Yes' lyrics say:

Love comes to you and you follow
Lose one on to the heart of the sunrise
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with its arms
All around me
Lost on a wave and then after
Dream on on to the heart of the sunrise
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with so many around me
Lost in the city
Lost in their eyes as you hurry by
Counting the broken ties they decide
Love comes to you and then after
Dream on on to the heart of the sunrise
Lost on a wave that you're dreaming
Dream on on to the heart of the sunrise
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with its arms all around Me
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with so many around me
I feel lost in the city
Lost in their eyes as you hurry by
Counting the broken ties they decided
Straight light moving and removing
SHARPNESS of the colour sun shine
Straight light searching all the meanings
Of the song
Long last treatment of the telling that
Relates to all the words sung
Dreamer easy in the chair that really fits You
Love comes to you and then after
Dream on on to the heart of the sunrise
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the sun with its arms all around Me
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with so many around me
I feel lost in the city

For those who'd love to listen to this song, here we have the links: Yes playing with Rick Wakeman! Part 1 and 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_l4-TMq4yI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBPzHvI-YTE&NR=1
Then, an unplugged great version with Spanish guitars (Guitarras criollas) at a Cafe in California, singing Jon Anderson, of course, who else?....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig6WOlsAYuk

Rochester subway. http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester_01.jpg