December 12th
It has been awhile that I had given an urban planning a serious thought since my graduate school time.
I almost felt that my master degree was a waste as I could not find the link between that and my interests through the theological lens. Through this church planting in the middle of one of the megacities of the world was a great hands-on experience, but discussions of a city and its social meaning, opportunities and threats to faith and church, could not be imagined further. That is until I started my reading into these pieces.
I remember doing a module on green theology and the definition of stewardship- God-given responsibilities to mankind. It was refreshing to see that modern theology trying to revisit some of the earlier assumptions on our relationship with the world and the integral parts of the world.
These articles expanded my view to even on the built environment.
Sheldrake's piece was an eye-opener. How different zoning policy of governments actually has separated and disintegrated the sense of communities. The convenience of public transportation, and the urban sprawl meant that people' place of living, leisure, consumption, place of worship being separated, and the traditional sense of community is lost. He mainly looked at children and their play. What we see of our children and their place of a game has changed. We as a contemporary generation, feel the responsibility towards our children and their safety, but in fact, we are creating, distrust, void, empty space particularly in the inner city, which is the reverse of what the parents wanted. More and more empty areas, and the zoned spaces per different usages means that the disintegration will intensify.
Looking at Seoul, and how my children fit in the city, this is definitely what I witness too. We pick our children's playdates. We drive some distance to drop them off, and rather than hanging with the parents of my boy's friend, I go to a coffee shop nearby and drink coffee, check my SNS until the pre-arranged time is over, and pick my children up. I never let my children go to playground on their own, for fear of any unwelcome attention/threat of lawless drivers and bikers endangering their lives. By doing so, I am putting them in a bubble. Safe, for now, maybe, but for a long term, it is not.
A little world that every family, and individual creates, it is a threat to the humanity and the sense of community. On the flip side, this is the time of opportunity. What Acts 1:8 says, reaching out to the end of World with the gospel. The world has become smaller/more individualistic, but that means that each of us, the good news bearer, our role has become more important.
