After reading this article, what impressed me most was the view about the lack of individuality in the city. In particular, as the article said, there is concern that so many cities are so eminently forgettable. Nowadays, the problem faced by many cities is no longer a lack of landmarks, but too many landmarks. As mentioned in the article, metropolises such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong spend a high price on constructing visual signs. Of course, we do not deny that these landmarks bring recognition to the city. However, when these cities are obsessed with pursuing these landmarks, it will lead to an excessive number of landmarks. The result is that the city has become too complicated because of too many ‘anomalous details,’ and even unusual details cannot be identified. The above viewpoints should cause people and city planners to think about the design concept of emerging cities. Here I have a small suggestion. As mentioned in the article, a city without history is superficial. Instead of spending vast sums of money on building landmarks, it is better to think about discovering and showing the historical heritage of a city.
Zhang Ziye 3035771397
City branding strategies are part of city marketing, which have been one of the urban design and development aspects for decades. Cities around the world are paying a massive amount of money to stand out from the others, mainly to attract more people to come. Some are actually investing in the preservation and conservation of cultural heritage building and sites. Even so, the city redevelopment continues. To strengthen your argument building, you could also take a closer look and elaborate more on how “visual signs” are being constructed and what kind of image are they producing and projecting at the same time? Also, how to impose identities in such a rapidly changing city which hosts so many landmarks?