This article has been building up in my head for a fairly long time now. I can probably trace it back to midnight on the 3rd of July, 2012. Sitting on the 70th floor of the Rockafeller Centre in New York as the wind swept across the viewing gallery, the tiny bits of light from buildings and cars interspersed around the huge grid that is Manhattan combined in my head to form the gears of a well - oiled machine: one that was single-handedly running the world economy and bringing to life the dreams of a million people. There is a strange magic in the way cities seem to inspire ambition in the minds of young people everywhere.
Going back in time to the days when the whole world was one big agragrian community, man's ambition was all but limited to his next harvest. The story of how we went from there to the baroque globalised world of today involves "cities" as a major player. Beginning as centres of trade and commerce, it is in the ancient centres of Istanbul, Aden, Vienna, Geneva, Macao, Calicut, Panama, etc. and later, London and Amsterdam that cultures from across the world began to interact to develop new human networks. Cities grew to shelter philosophers and beliefs that shaped the new world, different from the feudal ages of aristocractic divinity to a time of democracy and universal equality. Nation states in Europe grew around vibrant cities and as we looked to formulate new 'national' identities, cities became icons of what nations stood for. Panning across the modern world, cities have come to represent microcosms of humanity - melting pots for disparate peoples coming together for a unified purpose: progress of the human civilisation.
Man has always liked to leave his imprint upon the worldscape. You see it in the elaborate arches of office buildings in old cities and the towering skyscrapers in the new. You see it in the 'watering holes' of the modern jungle - from the Maidan in Kolkata to Hyde Park in London to the Tiergarten in Berlin to Central Park in New York City. The labyrinthine subway systems are a marvel of modern human technology that provide vital transportation to the human tides moving across the city. Wandering aimlessly around the streets, the lights and the crowds seem to give off a strange, almost electric surge of energy, making you part of the race for glory, fame, love and success. It is here that stories are made and here that remarkable men and women make their mark on the facade of history.
We could equate the lure of a city to the lure of the 'New World' - from the 14th century when man went in search of new territory and resources to exploit to the 19th century when the Gold Rush caused ships from across Europe and Asia to gravitate towards the United States making the Statue of Liberty almost emblematic of the 'American Dream', which is not very different from the aspirations of a small town lad looking to be a cog in the wheel of the metropolis. It is a metaphor for hope in the unknown and all that is out there that underlies the charm of cities. In the dark, damp and squalid shanties striken with poverty too, the lights from the distant scrapers shine bright in the night sky reminding poor newcomers of the dream for a better tomorrow and the relentless pursuit of happiness, never to be given up. There is history to be made in every nook and shady street corner. It is the sheer possibility that you might be caught up in one such moment that gives cities a magical charm.
The skyscrapers reach up to the clouds, egging us to dream. To hope. Could we make history?
What is it about cities?
Going back in time to the days when the whole world was one big agragrian community, man's ambition was all but limited to his next harvest. The story of how we went from there to the baroque globalised world of today involves "cities" as a major player. Beginning as centres of trade and commerce, it is in the ancient centres of Istanbul, Aden, Vienna, Geneva, Macao, Calicut, Panama, etc. and later, London and Amsterdam that cultures from across the world began to interact to develop new human networks. Cities grew to shelter philosophers and beliefs that shaped the new world, different from the feudal ages of aristocractic divinity to a time of democracy and universal equality. Nation states in Europe grew around vibrant cities and as we looked to formulate new 'national' identities, cities became icons of what nations stood for. Panning across the modern world, cities have come to represent microcosms of humanity - melting pots for disparate peoples coming together for a unified purpose: progress of the human civilisation.
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| Towards Daley Plaza, Chicago, July 2012 |
We could equate the lure of a city to the lure of the 'New World' - from the 14th century when man went in search of new territory and resources to exploit to the 19th century when the Gold Rush caused ships from across Europe and Asia to gravitate towards the United States making the Statue of Liberty almost emblematic of the 'American Dream', which is not very different from the aspirations of a small town lad looking to be a cog in the wheel of the metropolis. It is a metaphor for hope in the unknown and all that is out there that underlies the charm of cities. In the dark, damp and squalid shanties striken with poverty too, the lights from the distant scrapers shine bright in the night sky reminding poor newcomers of the dream for a better tomorrow and the relentless pursuit of happiness, never to be given up. There is history to be made in every nook and shady street corner. It is the sheer possibility that you might be caught up in one such moment that gives cities a magical charm.
The skyscrapers reach up to the clouds, egging us to dream. To hope. Could we make history?
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