The Generic City
The article is a depressing overview of the city by the author. I’m not sure I understand it and certainly don’t get anything out of it. The article is broken down into several sections and includes commentary on city statistics, airports, urbanism, politics, sociology, population, architecture, geography, history, identity, culture and infrastructure.
The author claims that the generic city is “liberated from the captivity of center”. It has no identity. It has no history. The generic city exists everywhere across the globe not just in the United States. All generic cities have a waterfront and are found in warmer than usual climates where the weather is stable.
Sensations of a generic city can be manipulated in the in mind to be intensified or simplified. It’s a petri dish for society. It can change its identity at a moment’s notice. This type of city explodes when the economy accelerates. The architecture is beautiful and is built at incredible speed.
Airports are considered a major element of the generic city. A large population uses them regularly and they provide employment for many. Some more characteristics of a generic city are that it’s multiracial and multicultural. Basically consisting of three elements: roads, buildings and nature; the generic city also enjoys the benefits of invention such as bridges and tunnels.
What is a city?
This article was more informative then the previous one. The author states that the sociological concept of a city is a collection of primary groups such as families and neighborhoods. They are self supportive. The city is a symbol of unity and economic organization. It’s also about the culture, art and drama.
Another concept is that social facts are primary and the physical organization of a city must be subservient to its social needs. That includes its industries, markets, lines of communication and traffic. In the past century, the development of the “physical plant” grew like crazy but the social nucleus (government, education and social services) were afterthoughts. Today, understanding the relationship of town halls, schools, theaters and libraries is the first task in designing urban areas.
There is limitation of size for an urban area. Le Corbusier suggested schemes that could accommodate roughly 3 million people. This was based on Paris’ urban area. There has to be an adequate ratio of the population as to what’s being “served”. There is an optimal size so the difficulties don’t outweigh the benefits. There is also an optimal area of expansion. When a city gets too large, it can become paralyzed.
Growth of the city
In the US, the transition from rural to urban began later than in Europe but took off at rapid speed. Characteristics of modern city life: the skyscraper, the daily newspaper, the subway are very much American. There are certain characteristics of a city that differ tremendously from rural areas. For example, there are more woman and foreigners in cities. Social problems effect the urban growth.
In Europe and America there is a tendency for the city to expand to what’s called the metropolitan area. This area extends past political boundaries and even across state lines. The area can be physically contiguous but is really defined by transportation. In urban growth, there are “antagonistic and complimentary processes of concentration and decentralization”. Transportation converges on the business district which consists of shops, theaters, office buildings, hotels and civic buildings among other things.