A normal city

2025-08-06 10:51:00, Opinione Ardi Stefa

A normal city

It doesn't take much imagination to imagine a normal city.
It's enough that there isn't too much noise, too much smoke, too much clutter. Not too much indifference. A normal city doesn't need to look like a postcard for tourists, nor does it need to live like a permanent construction site for its residents.

A normal city does not have the luxury of always having new asphalt, but it has the obligation not to turn every rain into a festival of puddles and floods.
It does not have all marble sidewalks, but neither does it treat pedestrians as second-class. It does not have futuristic public transport, but it has accurate schedules and means that do not embarrass either the citizen, the driver, or the local government.

A normal city is not only the product of a responsible administration. It is also a reflection of its citizens. You can't expect clean streets when you treat trash cans like basketball hoops, but with basketball players who never make a basket.

You can't complain about the lack of greenery when you treat a tree as a place to tie a donkey. Nor about the lack of flowerbeds when you trample the grass and flowers because you'll fall short.
A normal city is built when citizens understand that "public space" does not mean "nobody's space", but space that belongs to all of us and that makes us all responsible.

A normal city doesn't recognize the word "action" for garbage cleanup. Garbage doesn't wait for cameras to collect it. But neither should citizens expect someone to clean up the tracks of irresponsibility.

A normal city doesn't rely on luck to prevent a fire, knowing full well how many fire engines and firefighters it has. Nor on donations to outfit firefighters. A normal city has institutions that function without applause.

A normal city is not an arena of momentary pleasures for those in power, nor is it a place of complaint for citizens who are accustomed to holding everything accountable except themselves. A normal city is the everyday home of citizens who do not expect spectacular projects, but a city where they do not feel like strangers.

A normal city lives with daily solutions, not temporary spectacles. It does not produce social media heroes, but citizens who do their duty without fuss: who do not park in the middle of the sidewalk, nor walk illegally; who take out the garbage bag where it is supposed to, who understand that “one less piece of paper on the ground” is more valuable than a thousand Facebook statuses.

A normal city is not a big dream. It's the minimum you owe to yourself as a citizen and to your community as a member.

We no longer want "model cities with facades", we simply want normal cities. And this starts with a silent pact: the government should do its job, the citizen should do his.
Sometimes as allies and when necessary as opponents!

Only then will normality stop being a luxury./ CNA