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On the sidewalk
On the sidewalk in Kentlands, I met the president of the residents' Association, who was walking with a visiting fan of the New Urbanism. Compared to the other developments I had seen that day, Kentlands had more cars driving around and more people on the streets. There weren't large numbers out that December day, but there we were on the sidewalk, Eileen and I, discussing which philosophers had better ideas about urbanism, and the role of community government in economic development. She was urging an adaptation of Machiavelli's ideas from the Discorsi, while I was using Hegel's distinction between civil society and state. That discussion would not have happened in those other developments without sidewalks or places to walk to.