People’s imagination of the futurity of city/metrapolis, concomitant with the technology progression, is changing over time. In modernity era people imagine future with a huge bulk of machines, the sky becomes dark and mechines’ roaring make people’s voice uncovered. However, when people witnessed the huge progression of internet and computer science, they realized that the future they imagined before just cannot predict the apperence of internets, though computers, robots and cyborgs have been discussed before. Boyer pointed out this narration change of machine and cities. We just want to predict the future, but it is also a fact that future

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The reading talks about different imaginary mobile cities proposed in science fiction movies, including James Blish’s Cities in Flight, , Ron Herron’s Walking City, Peter Cook’s Instant City, Alastair Reynolds’ distributed city Swarm and etc. I found it interesting when reading the description of Archigram group, where Ron Herron belonged. Carl Abbott wrote that their practices “supplant their elders who had been shaped by depression, war and post-war austerity”, and are integrated in the context of avant-garde emerging in many aspects of the British society. Those unconstrained imagination of urban space showcases the recovery of human inventiveness from suppression and

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The author detailed explains a logical transform from the modern city (the Machine City) to the postmodern city (the Cyber Cities). Referred to Michel Foucault, she examines the discipline as a most efficacious power that shaped the city. People’s dream of order, acts of comparing, contrasting and categorizing made the machinelike norm to establish authority over individuals, namely sovereign, which I believe very related to the 19th century and early 20th century’s urban planning. No matter Corbusier’s Radiant City or Howard’s Garden City, they all wish a fixed, rational and grand order that could last forever, yet, failed rapidly. Nonetheless,

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The film Snowpiercer (2013) attracts me a lot. After the tutorial I watched it and thus I have a better understanding of “movable city”. The train and the Engine play an important role in it. Because of the ecological disaster, a tiny remnant of humans have found shelter on a train endlessly circling the globe. On the train everything is just like the original world, only shown in a more cruel way.  Inequality is amplified, killing is justified, even revolt events are designed, just for the “balance” of the train. This running train is just like a small-scale world. This film

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Carl Abbot discusses the possibility of migratory cities in the future. He has classified migratory cities into three types: distributed cities, hunter-gatherers, cities riding the rail. These cities are generally referred to as walker or okie city. People living in certain cities migrate from one place to another, still maintaining the same livelihood and preserving civilization. It helps people in connecting with mother nature. The author gives several examples to elucidate problems like discrimination, environmental problems as a result of developing new technologies.  He wonders whether the fast development of technology make the world a better place or will it

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One thing about these migratory cities that is hard to understand is the degree of dependency it projects for our future cities. One thing about these migratory cities that is hard to understand is the degree of dependency it projects for our future cities. In one way, we are becoming more independent.  The physical separation between cities on the geographical scape makes these imaginations seem more like independent entities when compared to our existing ones.  Each person in the city will also be assigned a role and will have to stay committed to that one job in order for the

Continue reading[READING RESPONSE] CARL ABBOTT