I often wondered… is there really such a town, and if so, how can one claim there is one with certainty? What should this town look like to satisfy every man’s needs? As a concept, town at the same denotes dynamics and strength, in addition to processes which directly influence man, equally as people’s actions form social courses of a town. Its content, possibilities, energy emerging from mutual interaction of various town factors, represent only a part of the image each of us shapes about a place s/he thinks is ideal.
Exactly this one, large enough to come up to man’s expectations and desires, and yet small enough to preserve the soul, is simultaneously an ideal town offering everyone freedom, but sanctuary as well. But, if we put aside some standard features that made town a town… we would be left with nothing but the answer to my question: the feeling. The feeling of belonging, acceptance, fitting in. The sense that in my eyes precisely this town is ideal because it somehow fits me perfectly – to me as a person, as an individual. The one among many who in that image of a town writes his own story. Maybe small or insignificant, but mine. Because these stories constitute a town: human destinies, events, relations, actions, opinions. Life. This is why town has an intrinsic relationship to people, they are its essence.
These people may be the protagonists in certain stories or may simply continue the endeavours of others by enriching their stories, thus making some new ones and building foundation for the future ones to come. Some of these stories may catch your eye, like in the “traces” of architecture which mark certain events and processes, leaving them written in time forever, while others will be “recorded” as a silent echo somewhere in the hidden corners of little allies that will perhaps even tomorrow make the streets echo differently…
A. Vlaić