Category: Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbars]

Posted on Lam Yu Sze

This essay mentioned two concepts: exorbitant city and generic city. Although the two concepts seem a bit contradictory in the essay that exorbitant is very complex in its humanity and history while generic is those without the specific characteristic. However, in my opinion, I think one city can be both exorbitant and generic or transform from one to another. A city becomes generic when it is extremely exorbitant. As the author quotes: one must monotonize existence in order to get rid of monotony. When it has too complex characters, none of them will stand out and make the city to

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Cat Links Lecture 8 Sci-fi Technoscapes, Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Posted on Wong Wai Ching

According to Ackbar Abbas, generic cities are cities that lack a different and unique historic, cultural or social qualities; while a exorbitant city is a city that has many mixed characteristics. I remember a district council dispute in Hong Kong that was on a sculpture design. The artist insist that his artwork in the middle of the street was improving the artistic and cultural value of the area. However, the citizens in that area disagree and thought the design is bad. I think that the citizens had a stronger ground because artwork in city should be a public art. It

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[READING RESPONSE] Abbas M.A.

Posted on Bryan Wong

The idea of exorbitant and generic are a progressive, yet paradoxical idea that consistently perpetuates throughout time. Through the reading and discussions done along the tutorial, I’d interpret the idea of generic city as a byproduct of the modernised globalisation.  In fact, every city have always been craving for exorbitant, the ubiquity of each city at its core are preserving their own history and culture. Here are the nuances that differs each metropolis from one another, but at a global lens, every each links back to the “generic” state when cities are forever growing as they slowly loses its “identity”.

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

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

Posted on Cheung Yik Hei Anson

As the last tutorial, we discussed a text from Ackbar Abbas, again, as a perfect round up of the whole course. One of the main elements in this text is ‘generic’ and ‘exorbitant’ cities, categorising cities from their overall architectural appearance, but I somehow question these definition. Referring to my very first reading response on Ackbar’s text about ‘disappearance’, the word describing Hong Kong ‘placeless’ and ‘anonymous’ basically means the same as ‘generic’. I don’t know if it really is a negative description or just my perspective, however, I would like to further extend my thoughts from that response. Architecture

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Reading Response: ACKBAR ABBAS

Posted on Zhuang Shun Ying

In CINEMA, THE CITY AND THE CINEMATIC, the writing used two Hong Kong films, Crouching Tiger and In the Mood for Love, to illustrate his understanding of ‘genetic city’ and ‘exorbitant city’. In my point of view, the writer defines the former one as a city that has little specific feature architectures or, in other words, as a city without its history presented. In my point of view, I do not appreciate a city with all modern features and not telling its own story. However, as an architecture student, I do appreciate some architectures built that only present its designer’s,

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Posted on Chow Wai Yin

This reading discussed the concept of exorbitant city and generic city and their relationship. In my understanding, the exorbitant city is complex and overwhelmed while the generic city has a weak identity. Abbas mentioned that images are designed images to boost their tourist trade. Some cities invite stararchitect to design significant architectures and wish to replicate the “Bilbao Effect”. These kinds of architectures soon become more and overwhelm the city. These cities are considered as an exorbitant city. When you zoom out and look at the world as a global city. These cities become generic. “Image of the city” makes

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

Posted on Yu Qi

This article gives me deeper insight into the relationship between cities and films. There are two ways to look at a city in cinematic practices: “generic” and “exorbitant”. In a global sense, a generic city, as its name suggests, has few or no unique characteristics, with its buildings and streets suitable to be anywhere. But things are a little different as for exorbitant cities. According to Abbas, they have two key features: “instability” and “eroticism”. “Instability” means that the city is an ever-changing space, both in itself and in ways to perceive it, making it impossible to be well reflected

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[READING RESPONSE: ACKBAR ABBAS]

Posted on Suen Man Jessica

After reading the article, the author stated the differences between exorbitant city and generic city, and also their interconnection and interrelationship. Generic city refers to a city building up a new identity by ignoring their own histories. It is not easy to show the uniqueness of a city as the reason of globalization. It is hard for a place to show their own features. Exorbitant city refers to a place that could show the development process and the history of a city. I think that generic and exorbitant city are interlocked. Globalization may affect the design of a place and

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

Posted on Mi Yuqi

As far as I am concerned, the concept of exorbitant city focuses on the historical aspect while the concept of generic city is usually based on a city’s appearance or its exterior features, often neglecting its inconspicuous social issues. Generic cities demonstrate similarities in city planning especially in terms of constructing landmarks and unique architecture, development status, as well as patterns of density, which is associated with impacts of globalization. To a certain extent, globalization promotes homogeneity as interaction and integration around the globe somehow allow people to reach consensus and share common values. As a result, rise of generic

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Posted on Lau Chun Ho Darren

After reading this article, I would have been surprised to realized that there are the exorbitant city and the generic city. The writer kicked off by introducing the Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, which explains that the exorbitant city are too complex to be grasped as they could escape the definition of power and representation. That’s why power of images tell so little about the city. Ironically, “no face is surrealistic to the same degree as the true face of the city”, the generic city reveal the problem of exorbitant city which is indeed too unrealistic due to its obsession with

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