Category: Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Posted on Julia

Hong Kong is gradually becoming a generic city which refers to the city free of any history and characteristics. The generic city is actually the final product of modernism and science, which kind of are the antithesis of history and identity. From my perspective, for this phenomenon, the merits outweigh the defects. The citizens can confer and add many features to their city freely instead of worrying about destroying the old characteristics, just like decorating a total new house without any limitations. Also, this concept reminds me of a line from the movie The Young and Prodigious Spivet, “Every millimeter

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture, Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

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In this tutorial and reading, we mainly focus on the generic city. In this day and age, globalization is the catalyst of culture exchange. Causing the development of most of the cities become similar. Every city like Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong design images of themselves to boost the tourist trade. As the special landmarks or the images can help them become unique and special among the other cities. However, these special icons being nonspecial since there are too many landmarks among the worlds. What is worse, this running to a dull point. Every city pays a huge amount of

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture, Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[READING RESPONSE] Ackbar Abbas

Posted on u3582509

In a globalized urban setting, more and more Generic cities appear to be in conformity around the world. They are blank concrete jungles that loss of cultural context, significance, and identity, or “absence of character”, as mentioned by the author. Therefore, we use logos and images to preserve and promote the city’s values. I agree that film is polychronic and polychromatic, which allows infinite imaginations and explorations. Ironically, it may bring confusion and delusion of a real city because of its high authenticity. When people just learn cities through images and films, certain stereotypes will be created as a result

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

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I think HK embodies the characteristics of a Generic City to a certain degree. Especially the buildings which were built more recently. The older ones make Hong Kong less generic, more identifiable among all the cities like Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai. Central may be the most famous region in Hong Kong and I think it is very representative of HK. In Central, you can see the iconic skyscrapers that are also the heart of the financial and economic activities of this city. White collars commute to their offices and the nationality of the workers are also one of the most diverse

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[READING RESPONSE] Ackbar Abbas

Posted on u3577125

The most mentioned item in this chapter is “the Generic City”. So, we readers can’t help asking the same question– what is exactly a “Generic City”? But, what is fun is that the characteristic of this kind of new city is “no characteristic”. To be more precisely, “the Generic City” is, to some extent, a kind of homogenization, an abnormal form of over-modernization. Nowadays, cities are increasingly filled with numerous postmodernist styles. It’s excessive features that make an exorbitant city “invisible”, not legible. This notion reminds me of Shenzhen, a Chinese city we are all familiar with. When I travelled

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture, Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Reading response: Ackbar Abbas

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Abbas suggested invisible cities and generic cities in the reading and I found generic cities relatable.Generic city is a city that keeps changing rapidly and there is no fixation of identity. These cities are usually located in Asia and Hong Kong ,the hometown of mine is one of those generic cities . Hong Kong is colonised by England for almost a decade, it is a hybrid of west and east culture and the architecture in Hong Kong reflects that .As time goes on, with the change in sovereignty , Hong Kong keeps transforming as its history is erased and rewrite

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[READING RESPONSE] ABBAS, M.A.

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After reading this passage, it’s devastating to see how the characteristics of a generic city so accurately describe Hong Kong. The city is so desperate to define its identity after being defined by others for so long. The world might think that we won’t be able to sustain our economic power after our days as an entrepôt were over, that’s why we need to prove them wrong and continue to be Asia’s international city. Much of this urge to grow and develop economically makes our lives so vividly dull. The clone-like high rises and our everyday life that’s literally the

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Cat Links 2020 Spring, Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[READING RESPONSE] ACKBAR ABBAS

Posted on Fernandes Erika Anna

In the reading from “Cinema, the City and The Cinematic” in “Global Cities: Cinema, Architecture and Urbanism in a Digital Age”, the author, Ackbar Abbas focuses on the relationship between the city and the cinema and how cinematic practices can be used to understand urban spaces.  Having previously analysed another of Ackbar Abbas’ essays, I felt that going over that  would help in my understanding of the text.  In the response to Abbas’ “Building on Disappearance: Hong Kong Architecture and Colonial Space”, I mentioned the correlation between the cities decaying identity and the growth of the building as a commodity.

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Reading Response: Abbas, M. A.

Posted on Wong Yan Shun

A city can be shown in film as generic or special through the use of colors, lighting, objects, styling and characters. Abbas argues that a city is either one or the either, but I would disagree as what a city is depends on the person who is looking at it. For example, New York city, the most famous city in film is often perceived with lively characters that live differently in the different neighborhoods, some being rougher and some being more easy going. At the same time, someone less into film would regard New York as another generic American city

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