Radical Cities, Linn Appelgren
WHAT IS A CITY? - THE PERSPECTIVE OF TIME
What is a city? To start with I believe that there is no single answer for this, and as Javier was saying at the round table:
“The number of answers are as many as people walking on this earth.”
meaning that there is no correct answer to this question.
Establishing this fact I would also like to discuss the opening statement at the round table made by Ana Luengo.
She claimed how a city is made out of a “civilization”, but I believe this further creates questions regarding the perspective of time.
The term “civilization” suggest a living population inhabiting a physical space.
But is a “city” that once thrived but now stands abandoned still a city?
Take the ancient cities of Machu Picchu or Pompeii for example, would you still call those places cities?
If not, when did it stop being a city?
Or closer in time with the cities of Fukushima, or Chernobyl, places that used to be called cities.
But what about now?
And what is the reason for not being able to call it a city?
Can a place be called a city without population?
Going into even more current topics: is Wuhan, the city where the corona virus had its outbreak, still a city?
When the population is strictly quarantined in their homes, is it not the same as an abandoned or ancient city?
Establishing this fact I would also like to discuss the opening statement at the round table made by Ana Luengo.
She claimed how a city is made out of a “civilization”, but I believe this further creates questions regarding the perspective of time.
The term “civilization” suggest a living population inhabiting a physical space.
But is a “city” that once thrived but now stands abandoned still a city?
Take the ancient cities of Machu Picchu or Pompeii for example, would you still call those places cities?
If not, when did it stop being a city?
Or closer in time with the cities of Fukushima, or Chernobyl, places that used to be called cities.
But what about now?
And what is the reason for not being able to call it a city?
Can a place be called a city without population?
Going into even more current topics: is Wuhan, the city where the corona virus had its outbreak, still a city?
When the population is strictly quarantined in their homes, is it not the same as an abandoned or ancient city?
So in the end, what is a city?
Perhaps I have been asking more questions than actually answering them.
My belief is that all places currently or once populated with a certain amount of people can be regarded as cities.
This amount is something that can be discussed but is not the topic of this text.
My interest lies in the perspective of time.
To conclude: I do believe that even abandoned cities are cities, and I would like to argue for this because the term “city” itself is used too loosely.
Perhaps I have been asking more questions than actually answering them.
My belief is that all places currently or once populated with a certain amount of people can be regarded as cities.
This amount is something that can be discussed but is not the topic of this text.
My interest lies in the perspective of time.
To conclude: I do believe that even abandoned cities are cities, and I would like to argue for this because the term “city” itself is used too loosely.
Maybe the abandoned places are the history of city. I don't believe that they can be still called cities, but I do believe that they can teach something to contemporary cities.
ResponderEliminarNice way to show the city, the changes, the weather, the evolution ...
ResponderEliminarSome years ago in the news we saw pictures about Detroit as an abandoned city. They were so real and at the same time so thrilling. Was it a premonition of the future?....a really interesting conversation
ResponderEliminarNowadays we still calling abandoned places cities why? because ages or centenaries ago people were lived there? i think that population is main unit of measurement of the city. we can call place a city which is livable which has a history, culture, heritage. Population creates the face of the city, people creates the history. from my point of view i can say that abandoned cities are the part of the history which has a heritage because of people but it's not an active and livable place any more it's just a part of the history.
ResponderEliminar