Let's think for a moment about an ordinary day.

We leave home. Some of us take our kids to school. We go to work. We buy something. We receive a delivery. Maybe we need to see a doctor, run an errand, meet someone, and finally go back home.

Nothing extraordinary.

It's simply our everyday life.

But now let's think about how much effort our city demands of us to do all of that.

  • How much time do we lose getting around?
  • How many simple tasks force us to travel several kilometers?
  • How often do we use the car because we can't find a reasonable alternative?
  • How many streets are hard for us to cross?
  • How often do we look for shade, a bench, or simply a place to stop?

What's worrying is that we've already normalized many of these difficulties.

We've grown used to organizing our lives around how the city works, when maybe we should start asking ourselves whether it shouldn't be exactly the other way around.

Because having more buildings, more avenues, more stations or more infrastructure doesn't necessarily mean living better.

The question should be how much all of that actually makes our everyday life easier.

And I think that to start changing it, we should look at, at the very least, seven things.

1. BRING WHAT WE NEED CLOSER

Not everything has to be five minutes away.

But it also shouldn't seem normal to travel long distances for simple everyday tasks.

  • Housing.
  • Retail.
  • Education.
  • Health.
  • Work.
  • Transportation.
  • Recreation.

When we bring these functions closer together, we don't just cut kilometers.

We get time back.

2. DESIGN THE ENTIRE JOURNEY

We can build an extraordinary metro station, but if walking to it is uncomfortable, unsafe or inaccessible, something was left incomplete.

The same happens with a home, an office or a shopping center.

Our experience doesn't begin when we walk through the door.

What also matters:

  • The sidewalk.
  • The crossing.
  • The shade.
  • The lighting.
  • The bike lane.
  • The connection to transit.

A city is also designed from the door outward.

3. MAKE EVERY SQUARE METER DO MORE FOR US

A park doesn't only have to be for recreation.

It can provide:

  • Shade.
  • Biodiversity.
  • Sports.
  • Water management.
  • Gathering spaces.

A station can combine transit, retail and services.

A school can keep serving the neighborhood after classes end.

A rooftop can generate energy, incorporate greenery, or become a shared space.

We don't always need more infrastructure. Sometimes we need the infrastructure we have to do more.

4. BUILD IN LOGISTICS FROM THE START

  • We want stocked stores.
  • We want to receive our orders.
  • We want restaurants running smoothly.

But we rarely think about where all of that will actually happen.

And when we don't, we get:

  • Vehicles double-parked.
  • Delivery riders on sidewalks.
  • Suppliers looking for somewhere to unload.
  • Goods competing with pedestrians.

Logistics is also part of our everyday life.

We shouldn't hide it.

We should design for it.

5. CREATE PLACES WHERE WE CAN SIMPLY BE

Not every space should force us to buy, work, or keep moving.

We also need:

  • Trees.
  • Benches.
  • Plazas.
  • Shade.
  • Places to talk.
  • Spaces where children can play and older people can rest.

These seem like small decisions.

But often it's those small decisions that make us want to walk, stay, or come back.

6. DESIGN FOR EVERY STAGE OF OUR LIVES

Today we can walk several blocks or climb stairs without thinking twice.

Tomorrow, maybe not.

That's why:

  • Accessibility.
  • Elevators.
  • Safe crossings.
  • Reasonable distances.
  • Places to rest.

These shouldn't be extras.

They should be part of the design from the very beginning.

7. GIVE US BACK TIME

This may be the most important one.

We constantly talk about moving faster.

But a good city should achieve something even better:

that we don't need to move around so much in the first place.

Because every minute we stop losing to unnecessary trips is time we get back for our family, for walking, resting, meeting people, or simply living.

After thinking a lot about this, one thing becomes clearer to me every time.

Architects, developers, investors, retailers, logistics companies, authorities and landowners aren't just building buildings or infrastructure.

We're also designing part of other people's everyday lives.

That's why, maybe before asking ourselves:

What can we build here?

we should start with a different question:

What should a person be able to do here, and how easy can we make it for them to do it?

Because a city can keep growing, building and investing.

But if we need more and more time and effort just to live in it, maybe we're still measuring its success the wrong way.

What would need to change today in your city to make your everyday life a little easier?