[urbanlife]

Okay, seeing that I now know a little bit about you, which by that I mostly mean age. When 9/11 you were barely a teenager and during your teen years this topic of what should be built at the WTC went on. Now you are starting to get to that age that you are understanding on what is going on around you, yet don't fully understand what goes into what makes things happen, you have basically arrived at this conversation several years late.

Like you, there are plenty of people out there that want to see the twin towers back, to forget about that day and the people that died there, but that can't happen, and like anything in the business world, these buildings are different and built during a different time than the original ones. And I understand where you are coming from, I remember being your age and wishing my hometown wouldn't of leveled 17 acres of its downtown back in the 50s long before I was born to replace all those turn of the century buildings into a large parking lot in the name of progress.

I remember looking at historical photo books and dreaming of what it would be like if the city never tore those buildings down and what could be done to recreate what was lost, but instead the city worked with a developer that built a massive, semi-suburban mall on those acres that basically cut off the downtown from the rest of the city and eliminated the urban street grid.

Now when I was your age I would draw maps and things to think about how the mall could be cut up and the street grid that was lost could be recreated. Will this ever happen? Doubtful, it would require a lot of money and a huge risk to take to make it happen for everyone involved...and honestly a risk most developers are not willing to take. Could it happen? Sure, there have been times when old malls have been turned into urban projects, but the chances of this happening with this mall and my hometown creating that urban center it lost is basically zero chance because even if anything like this were to happen, those buildings that were torn down are completely lost, as well as that craftsmanship that went into making them.

So while I understand you are late to this conversation and wish it wasn't already set in stone, but it is and what is planned to be built there is what is going to be built there. If you are seriously taking a real interest in this, you should look into college degrees that would point you in this direction of being involved with buildings and development. But if this is nothing more than a passing curiosity for you that you have no real interest in fully pursuing, then I suggest you do what most people who enjoy architecture is by enjoying what has been built and what is being built and what architects are proposing and leave the designing to those who have a real interest in designing.

Also another important factor that will serve you well in life, you are a 21 yr old, no one in the world wants to listen to a 21yr old who thinks they know what they are talking about. It is better for you to assume you don't know what you are talking about and always be willing to learn from those that do know this kind of information rather than trying to make them have to prove to you when something is wrong.