A city is judged, more than anything, by what it provides for people who have not been asked to buy anything. Pavilions, shelters, toilets and benches are the furniture of that judgment.
The Tidepool Bathhouse taught us that the most utilitarian public building can carry the most joy — that a door that opens without a fee, a warm room on a wet day, and a place to sit in the weather is architecture doing its actual job.
We would like every city to spend a little more on these buildings and a little less on the ones designed to impress visitors. The visitors will notice the difference; the residents already have.