A community whose architecture or design is monolithic is not only stale and boring, but also less energetic and vibrant. Traveling last weekend in Chicago, I was personally inspired to see how each individual neighborhood in the city reflected its residents.

Hyde Park, Ravenswood, Rogers Park, Andersonville, etc. each had its own unique identity and each was thriving. The combined effect of these interconnected identities created a palpable “vibe” that energized the entire city. It is one of the things that makes Chicago so great in the first place.

All too often, there is a trend towards sameness in communities and our culture. Retail and restaurant chains want their “standard” design and residents want the status quo to stay that way. The problem is this uniformity does not inspire or create…it hinders and detracts from vibrancy.

Artistic expression, unique ideas, creativeness, and above all, flexibility allows room to explore newer (and often better) ideas. It also allows each community or neighborhood to establish an identity that reflects the priorities of its residents.

As many of us are well aware, sameness is a scourge leftover from sprawl and bad planning. To combat sameness it is imperative that we think outside the box and reexamine the logic behind many of our codes and ordinances. Even form-based codes need to be reevaluated so they do not gradually wander into the same traps and ruts.

The old quote says, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” That is very true — therefore, more than six billion ideas of what beauty exist and no one opinion is better (or more important) than the others.

I know my personal tastes in architecture, art, design, planning, food, politics, and music have changed over time. So…why can’t communities do the same? To me, it is all just a part of maturing.