Reading the Modern Urban Landscape
Industrial Economy Mobilises various forms of rationality in economic production: Capitalist rationality: the logic of capital, of markets, of profit Science & technology: rational tools to aid production, organize the workplace
Industrial Economy Mobilises resources for economic production Renewable (ecosystems, green energy) Non-renewable (minerals) Makes demands upon the environment To provide resources To absorb wastes
Industrial Economy Mobilises people in ways essential to the economy As workers, managers and producers As consumers of products and services As reproducers of the workers and consumers
Industrial Economy Generates landscapes, places, spaces, territory Places of resource extraction, production transport, consumption. Systems of territorial control and governance
Industrial Economy May not be sustainable, but in shorter term can unleash transformation on a vast scale Huge boosts to global population Humanity becomes urban A global-scale market economy which affects everything Intense, globally-scaled environmental problems
World Urban Growth World Urban Population 3500000 3000000 2500000 2000000 1500000 Less Developed More Developed 1000000 500000 0 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2003 2005
Industrial Economy Destroys as well as creates Creates and destroys places, territories, landscapes Is essentially problematic The problems it generates cannot be solved
The Modern City One of the characteristic places generated by the industrial economy Vital to mobilising the forces of the industrial economy Even if it does not have much local industry Large concentrations of people Places of cultural mixing and hybridity
The Modern City A place shaped by the vast scale of the industrial economy
The Modern City Where nutrients, resources, globallysourced products are concentrated together For production, for consumption
The Modern City A generator of wastes and pollution
The Modern City A place from where the industrial economy is controlled, and its territories are governed
The Modern City A place for living, and making a living Must accommodate, feed, entertain, reproduce and recruit its inhabitants
The Modern City Offers a living, and places to live but disrupts comfort, safety, environmental sustainability City is noisy, congested, polluted, expensive Some of its places are not very nice
The Modern City The things which attract people to the city Jobs, places to live Generate disamenities, unpleasantness, danger The modern city is problematic These problems can never really be solved and still have an industrial economy
The Modern City Capitalism produces economic and social inequality Richer, higher status people use their money, power to obtain better-quality living conditions for themselves Suburbs and enclaves where they can escape disamenity Leaving the unpleasant places for the poor
Modern Society Cities and the industrial economy change human experience, social behaviour The urban becomes globally dominant in human culture, society
Modern Society Society becomes shaped by the crowd, crowding The crowd comes to dominate politics, the market
Modern Society The anonymity of the crowd can liberate Anonymity allows people to escape social control Easier to come out as gay in the big city This can oppress Hard for individuals to get recognition Surrounded by strangers, people can become lonely, depressed
Modern Society The mixing of peoples creates challenges Cultural isolation is difficult to maintain Some find this stressful Retreat to an enclave? Embrace diversity? Large populations create space for subcultures to flourish Ethnic, youth, religious, class etc.,
Modern Society Becomes dominated by contractural relations Working, living arrangements are formalised and organised through contracts Life is timed, scheduled, regulated by clocks
Modernity Becomes symbolic to its admirers (and critics) Some admire its products, achievements Environmentalists attack its destructiveness
Modernity The visual is important to the symbolism of modernity Modernity generates new forms of visual representation Film, photograph, video Modernity generates spectacular forms of visual consumption Sculptures for living in David Mirvish
Turning on Toronto s Hydro 1911
Le Corbusier
Machines for living in
Seagram Building NYC 1948
Modernity Forms of visual representation, of spectacle Work well with crowds The importance of the visual shapes modern life Buildings, consumer goods, people present themselves to be seen Looks become more important than function
NY Architects fancy dress