You still remember old, narrow, winding roads, sometimes just two streams of cars avoiding each other is enough to create a knot that lasts all morning. In the morning, crowds of people jostle like blocked blood vessels, and in the afternoon, tiredness drifts home in the rush of car horns. At that time, traffic jams are not just about traffic, but a kind of invisible pressure pressing on each person's mood.
But then, little by little, the roads began to change. People expanded them, cutting off unnecessary curves, spreading a new, flat and solid layer of asphalt. Rows of trees were replanted, more neat. Sidewalks were re-paved, no longer with jagged bricks. That change did not stop at the roads. In once-abandoned vacant lots, modern apartment buildings gradually sprouted up.
Initially, it was just a few rough concrete blocks, but then layers of glass were installed, balconies were completed and lights began to light up every evening. Those buildings are symbols of a new way of life, more neat, more convenient and somewhat more civilized.
In those apartment buildings, children have safe playgrounds, adults have walking spaces and amenities such as supermarkets, gyms, cafes... located right at the foot of the house. Without having to go far to find basic things, people have more time to slow down, to care for their families and to take care of themselves.
Of course, any development carries concerns. Some people regret old street corners, low-rise houses that have been associated with memories. Some people worry that modernity will lose identity. Those concerns are real and also a natural part of the transformation process. But if you look closer, you will see that in those changes there is still a thread connecting the past and the future. New roads do not erase memories, but only help us go further. And it is in that intersection that a new city gradually forms...
The most precious thing is probably not in specific projects, but in the feeling of hope. When you see a road being widened, you believe that tomorrow you will be less rushed. When you see a new residential area completed, you believe that life can be more stable.
And when those changes happen continuously, day by day, little by little, that belief also grows. And on a future morning, when you step out onto the street, no longer seeing the haste of jostling, or hearing the crashing car horns, you will realize that, those daily changes, turn out to have silently brought us to a better tomorrow.
