Suburban sprawl leads to social atomisation and fragmentation and is environmentally disastrous, as carbon-intensive car journeys displace local shops and replace public transport. Richard Rogers Read Quote
Cities depend on a healthy mix of uses and people for their vitality. As a pre-eminent world city, London is a magnet to people from across the globe. Richard Rogers Read Quote
Be passionate about your work and your life’ was instilled in me by my mother Dada, who was a potter. She also introduced me to the arts and encouraged me to embrace the new. Richard Rogers Read Quote
I remember my mother taking me to see the Picasso show in the 1940s, and I was impressed by the life and vibrancy of it all. It was a bit too avant-garde for most Londoners at the time, but since then, the city has become a centre for modern culture. Richard Rogers Read Quote
When I started out, nearly every architect I knew was working in public practice; that’s where the radical thinking was done. But, there’s always a danger of looking back as our fathers did and saying, ‘Things were better then.’ Richard Rogers Read Quote
Architects design buildings; that’s what we do, so we have to go with the flow; and, even though I’m still an old Leftie, global capitalism does have its good side. It’s broken down barriers – the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union – it’s raised a lot of people up economically, and for architects, it has meant that we can work around the world. Richard Rogers Read Quote
Education in British schools isn’t good enough. It’s not remotely imaginative enough. It lets down too many children, excluding them from society, and, as I’ve often said, people who are excluded from society tend to express themselves in ways not acceptable to society. Richard Rogers Read Quote
I have a very big family, and that is my number one thing, and we go away for a month to see my cousins in Italy every year, but I need to work. Richard Rogers Read Quote
