City Planning Snafu

Tullahassee Creek Indian Cemetery, Okalahoma

It is hard to imagine the aesthetics of the shopping mall getting much worse, but here we have a series of shopping malls built around...grave yards. When we think about the grave yards of the western world---a place where dead bodies or cremation remains are buried---finding them as you park at The Home Depot, to pick up some Duct Tape, makes for a strange experience. A Wiki comment:

Different cultures have different attitudes to destruction of cemeteries and use of the land for construction. In some countries it is considered normal to destroy the graves, while in others the graves are traditionally respected for a century or more. In many cases, after a suitable period of time has elapsed, the headstones are removed and the now former cemetery is converted to a recreational park or construction site. A more recent trend, particularly in South American cities, involves constructing high-rise buildings to house graves.

It is always interesting to look at how we conform space to our rituals and customs. This is a fine example of the urge for commerce appearing to be mediated by customs of respect. The odd part is how disrespectful the solution seems.


LINK: Cemetery History and Preservation