A lot of the cities mentioned in the reading are moving structures that range moving blocks of buildings to even connected ships that form a city. From the tutorial discussion and the example of the walker city from Flood which has citizens wandering as a city without any landmarks, what is a city? Is it the community? The history? The buildings? The various moving cities can be a parallel to real life immigration while we don’t view immigrants bringing their own cities with them, but instead they may join local communities with immigrants from their home country, such as China Towns appearing with Chinese immigrants. Perhaps people bring their city with them with traditions and memories of their place of origin even if their hometown is abandoned, in their hearts lives the city they once were part of, while they join new communities and add the local cities.
– Liu Hoi Ching, Daisy (3035820291)
I am glad that the sci-fi stories triggered your reflection on the qualifications of a city. Apart from communities that allow people to speak the same language and conduct similar customs, what do place and space have to do with the memory and identity of a citizen? I am sure the reading of L5 will spark you to reflect more on this week’s theme.