…To live, to eat, to visit, to shop, to see a concert or to walk around in.
They might not always be where we want or expect them to be, and they will rarely be in the same places they were a decade ago. But they’re always there.
Likewise, there will always be places that are expensive and worth it, places that are expensive and not worth it at all, and places that are cheap for a reason. (The reason being that they are terrible.)
Part of living artfully is to find those places and things that are cheap but amazing and advocate for them. Alternately, you could find places that are expensive and worth it, and help the us to appreciate them instead of taking them for granted and letting them fall apart, as we tend to do.
Sure. You could instead focus on the places that are expensive and overrated and aim to tear them down, or on those places that are cheap and terrible and shame the world that they exist. You could make it your life’s work to reveal them to us and simply make us indignant over the world’s many imperfections. But why? That’s easy. These days in particular, do you really think we need much help with that? Is there a shortage of that kind of sentiment that we’re not aware of? It doesn’t seem so from here.
We already know how to resent what we believe to be misplaced valuation. We know how to look down our noses at those things that are beneath us, and to take pity on the places in the world that are just plain sad. Does that make us better or happier people? Does it lead to better art?
What we do need help with is discovering amazing things we’ve overlooked, and noticing the great old things that we’re taking for granted. If that’s not a role for art, I don’t know what is. Focusing exclusively on what’s wrong is for the tomato-throwers. It’s the easy part.