those days when one is able to read...

''Disturbed by the reactions which play upon him from every quarter, the man of to-day is conscious, on the one hand, of a new world which is forming itself regularly, logically and clearly, which produces in a straightforward way things which are useful and usable, and on the other hand he finds himself, to his surprise, living in an old and hostile environment. This framework is his lodging; his town, his street, his house or his flat rise up against him useless, hinder him from following the same path in his leisure that he pursues in his work...
There reigns a great disagreement between the modern state of mind, which is an admonition to us, and the stifling accumulation of age-long detritus.
The problem is one of adaptation, in which the realities of our life are in question.
Society is filled with a violent desire for something which it may obtain or not. Everything lies in that: everything depends on the effort made and the attention paid to these alarming symptoms.
Architecture or Revolution.
Revolution can be avoided.''


- 'Towards a New Architecture', Le Corbusier, pp. 288-99

he wrote this indirectly refering to the social crisis that confronted france after the war... but somehow has perticular relevance in today's times... (at least in some parts of the world)