A Clause for Beauty

A Dispute in the Village Council — how should the village be redeveloped, what kind of new houses does it need? People want a basement, a small garden plot, a place to keep a piglet — and everything nearby, so they don’t have to run half a kilometer when a neighbor comes over and they need to fetch some pickles from the cellar for a snack. And they don’t want to go up to the ninth floor, even if there’s an elevator. But everything has already been decided — no one will build two- or three-story houses, let alone separate ones. Only five- to nine-story buildings. The plan has been approved, and new residents are already moving into urban-style apartment blocks. So why did they even have the discussion?