The reading describes the idea of mobile cities, its consequences and provides many examples from various science fiction works. In my opinion, a mobile city will radically change the way we think of our identities. First, I would imagine that as residents of a moving city, we will lose agency as individuals. Without an option of another place, we will be very dependent on the city for resources for survival. This would mean that we would be forced to conform to the rules of the society if we want to live. This is as opposed to if places were rooted, it gives people the option to look for another place that better suits their individuality.
This links to my next point. If cities were mobile, they too would lose their individuality. The city is not only defined by its built environment and people but also its natural environment. If cities were able to move to places to simply get the resources that they lacked it, then each city will be the same as the next as all the cities will be having the same constituents. On the cultural aspect, a city that moves too much will be come culturally diluted. The city accepts and becomes all the cultures that it encounters and in the end it becomes merely a collection of all the cultures with no true identity of its own. In some sense, with globalization, some aspect of this phenomenon can be seen today as cities become more and more homogeneous due to their open door policies. They gain affluence but loses themselves in the process.
By Emily Wu Mei Chang ( 3035611705)