Lo straniero directed by Luchino Visconti (Italy, 1967)
L’Étranger directed by François Ozon (France, 2025)
These two films are seperated by almost half a century but are otherwise quite similar in mood. The source for both is of course Albert Camus’s 1952 novel which in English is generally translated as ‘The Outsider’. This is a kind of ur-text for existentialism.
In the afterward to the novel, Camus wrote of his Algerian anti-hero Meursault: “One wouldn’t be far wrong in seeing ‘The Outsider as a story of a man who, without any heroic pretentions, agrees to die for the truth.”
This is a neat sound bite but ignores the not irrelevant detail that this is also a man who killed an Arab man for reasons that are never entirely clear. Being blinded by the sun is his lame defence in the courtroom. Such a state of confusion might have accounted for one shot after being threatened with a knife but doesn’t explain why he then fired four more bullets into the lifeless body.
The Arab is basically a clunky plot device with racist implications. Camus doesn’t even bother to give readers the dead man’s name. The man’s anonimity is carried through to Visconti’s film but is partially corrected in Ozon’s version which ends with an image of the victim’s gravestone. In both films the focus is squarely on Meursault depicting him as a suave, elegant man of few words. Marcello Mastroianni has such a natural charm that it’s hard to think too badly of him. Benjamin Voisin conveys to cold-hearted detachment more convincingly.
Perfect Days directed by Wim Wenders (Japan/Germany, 2023)
Up until now, my favourite toilet cleaner in popular culture has been Raymond Briggs’ ‘Gentleman Jim’, a cartoon character from 1980 who dreamt of breaking out of his humdrum existence and dead end job. In stark contrast, the character of Hirayama in ‘Perfect Days’, played brilliantly by Kōji Yakusho, is more than content to follow a daily routine that borders on a zen-like ritual as an employee of a Tokyo toilet cleaning company.
It helps that the facilities he works in are in a series of incredible buildings commissioned by the Nippon Foundation in 2018. This unique architectural project was coordinated by Yamada Akiko who set out to counter the image of public toilets as “dark, dirty, smelly and scary” places that were best avoided Through unfortunate timing, these buildings were completed around the time that the pandemic struck. Post lockdown, the esteemed German filmmaker Wim Wenders was asked if would be interested in making a documentary to publicise this enlightened initiative. He leapt at the chance but happily decided to turn the film into a work of fiction.
URBAN PLAYGROUND How child-friendly planning and design can save cities’ by Tim Gill (RIBA Publishing, 2021)
How do we make cities better for everyone?
One way is to make them more child-friendly.
Practical ways to achieve this goal are explained and explored in this book by my good friend Tim Gill.
From the case studies of cities around the world, it becomes clear that a lack of imagination is just as much of a stumbling block as a shortage of funds. Of course, austerity policies and the Global financial crisis have stretched municipalities hard but tired thinking only serves to consolidate the problems. For instance, it should be clear by now that planning cities around motor vehicles only creates more pollution, noise and stress. Too often, urban planners are unwilling or unable to think outside the box.
With specific regard to facilities for children, landscape architecture academic Helen Woolley coined the term ‘KFC Playgrounds’ to denote the standard ‘kit, fence and carpet’ approach adopted by many local authorities in the UK. A photograph of a particularly bleak example in Chesterfield, England speaks volumes:
Adjectives used in the book to describe that constitutes ‘good’ play include “messy”, “disruptive”, “social” and “spontaneous”. None of these words would be used to describe controlled activities in what amount to little more than risk-free cages. Indeed, Tim makes it clear that dedicated play areas are not the only child-friendly solution for cities. More green areas, traffic calming or wider pavements are other ways that can provide kids with the space to make their own entertainment. Safety measures are crucial but a focus on excessive supervision is often counterproductive.
Tim shows what is possible when creative thinking is combined with a willingness to bring about genuine change. The case study of Rotterdam is given as a prime example of how a failing city can be turned around. Unusually for a Dutch city, this was clogged by cars, a fact that helped earn it the unenviable title as the worst municipality for children in the Netherlands. Over a 12 year period, planners and local decision makers set about building a better environment for families. Tim devotes a whole chapter to this city and concludes that, “Rotterdam succeeded in carrying out scalable, sustainable interventions that have transformed many neighbourhoods” and that it offers “a valuable set of lessons for other cities.”
Fourteen other cities are studied to compare and contrast other planning solutions around the world. The population densities in each case are compared to Tim’s home city of London but his approach is not exclusively Eurocentric as other examples include cities in Brazil, Canada and Israel. The aim throughout is to use these various approaches to find practical solutions and the concluding chapter includes a series of ‘Tool Kits’ with suggested check lists of ideas and methods.
As for what happens next, I love the quote from Guillermo (Gil) Peñalosa that introduces the concluding chapter :”We have to stop building cities as if everyone is 30 years old and athletic”.
This book gives the ways and means for making cities more playful places for everyone. While the focus is on meeting children’s needs, the knock-on effects have benefits for all age groups since playfulness lies at the heart of community connection and civil identity
