Apartment Living, Part II

All buildings convey character of some kind and affect us when we see them. Houses, apartments, office blocks: they all have some impact. The external part of an apartment building can very much influence how we might feel about living there.The colorful shutters, as we also saw in the Apartment Living, Part I post, brightens this facade and gives the otherwise somewhat worn look of the building a community feel and friendly atmosphere.

This front is well maintained and the focus is strongly on the balconies and windows. A balcony makes a huge difference to the experience of living in an apartment. If the balcony catches the sun then this gives the residents an opportunity to be in the sun in the relative privacy and convenience of their home.

A resident's selection of an apartment can depend strongly on whether it has a balcony, its size, and when that balcony is in the sun.




Some people decorate their balconies with lots of flowers. Tables with sun shades enhance a balcony's use as a living space in the outdoor air.








Other buildings have more of a stately look to their exterior. There's almost the impression that these balconies are more for show or giving the odd speech to passersby than for any real practical use.


The insides of apartment buildings vary enormously, even from one identical layout of apartment to another. Sometimes a modest outside can yield a beautiful indoor living space. It's impossible to guess what a person's home looks like from the appearance of the outside.

Some apartments are very high, with their window space looking down on most other buildings. The tops of trees are far below, and the ground looks amazingly distant.
Sky panoramas can be quite magnificent in such apartments. The view is almost cinematic. High apartments can be both exhilarating and also isolating because they're so remote from the ground.

Apartments that are constructed like very large houses can also be very nice to live in. Looking out, the views are similar to what they would be from an upper floor in a house. With the windows open there are all the familiar sounds of birds, people walking nearby, car doors shutting, and all the more natural sounds of being close to the earth.

There are many different places to live and many different ways to live. In crowded regions the majority of people live in apartments. Some apartments are bigger than some houses. And there are all kinds for whatever circumstances and tastes a person may have.

Apartment Living, Part I

Apartment blocks are a common feature of modern times.




They provide a compact means of housing many people on one relatively small piece of land.


In areas where there's a shortage of space it's inevitable that there will be many apartment buildings.

Large numbers of people live under the same roof often knowing only a very few, if any, of their immediate neighbors. Society has come to be segmented with many people living in relative isolation to those around them. Communities used to be bound by the proximity of families, business and friends. These days many of these elements of a community are scattered over large distances and aren't necessarily present locally.

There can be great advantages to living in apartments. Some blocks have pleasant grounds where children can play safely. Heating and maintenance are usually more economical than they are for a house.Shops, schools, community centers and public transport are often located nearby.

Apartment blocks come in all sizes, shapes and colors. Some are very modern looking, others have been around a while and retain an old city look.










Some are quite glaringly dashing and impossible to overlook.








Others have a simple, quiet homely appearance.











Some apartments are mixed right in with businesses in the main part of a city.



These look more like large town houses rather than apartment blocks. And even though they're in the center of a city they have a charm that adds to their convenience.






These apartments are more in the tradition of the old town style, with shops down below. The colorful shutters add a great flavor to the outside, making it bright and fun to look at. It's surprising how the quaintness of this gives the scene a feeling of calmness; there's little clue that just round the corner is one of the busiest streets in the city.

The exteriors of apartments, and the types of buildings they're in, greatly influence the feel of a neighborhood.

For more about apartments, stay tuned for Part II.

Are You A Citizen of the World?

The speed and ease of travel by car, train, and air, along with the accessibility of communication via the Internet, has made the world seem a smaller place. For some people that has resulted in a social network that reaches far beyond the local community in which they're living.

Have you stopped to consider how many of your friends live in your close neighborhood compared with the number living elsewhere? Many people are linked far and wide by work associates, acquaintances, friends, and even family. Social links traverse counties, countries, oceans, time zones, cultures, languages -- all with little regard for the historical formalities or limitations of borders.
There are an infinite variety of reasons for traveling or moving. Some people move to find work. This is a big motivator these days and the distances traveled to satisfy these needs are farther and farther away from the person's place of origin. Some are forced to move to avoid conflict in their region. Some people move looking for better weather or to live near a place where they can more easily pursue their hobbies. Others just want to explore and experience new environments, learn languages and make new friends.

Children with parents that move frequently have both opportunities and challenges as a result. They may move to completely new continents in which they learn new languages and cultures. As children they adapt and become very much a part of the societies in which they live. If this happens even once in a child's life it can deeply influence their outlook.

As more and more people move and adopt new communities as their own, it not only affects their lives, but it also exposes the friends they leave behind to new things. The new place is shared by description, friends and relatives come to visit, some move to be nearby. A large cultural exchange and growth occurs as a result. Whether we travel or not, if we know people who do and we're in contact with them, we indirectly experience some of their new environment. Each contact of this nature brings the extended world closer to us.

Do you have friends on the other side of the world that you miss? Or family that you see only after getting on a plane? Do you meet people and make new friends on the Internet who are in places you've never been to? Do you miss a culture you no longer live in? Do you feel torn in your feelings of belonging to more than one place or society? As more and more people answer these questions with yes, the more fully our planet is moving toward having a functioning integral global society.

Benefits and Repercussions of a Global Society

With modern forms of travel and the Internet, the Earth has become a relatively much smaller place. We travel easily and quickly from one distant country to another. There has always been movement of people since history began, but it seems that more individuals, or small groups of people are moving around, leaving friends and relatives in other locations.

This has many advantages as well as disadvantages. The dictionary defines society as "an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization". In the past, societies have been largely woven out of local influences and have been very closely associated with location. There are a large number of very tightly knit communities with characteristic cultures and customs carried from the past into present times.

The large movements of individuals from every conceivable origin to every conceivable destination brings new elements into communities all over the world. The intermingling of different cultures and outlooks can bring tremendous benefits, but it can also cause confusion as the customs and familiar rules of etiquette become diluted by the presence of newcomers.

Change can be difficult to accept. People leaving what they know may be prepared to learn new ways, but while they're acquainting themselves with a new community they inadvertently bring new elements into that society themselves. Locals meet such new elements with a variety of responses.A society is an evolving entity, change is inevitable. Some personalities enjoy embracing the new, and patches of a modified society occur where mixtures of outlooks are adopted and accepted. But how does a community ensure that the qualities they hold dear are not overcome and lost by the rapid insertion of new ways and ideas?

The richness of variety is extremely important to moving forward constructively in any endeavor. If we, as people of the Earth, can respect and admire our differences and learn to bring them together without obliterating our varied heritages, we will have the best of everything for building the future.