Ackbar Abbas successfully introduces the concept of ‘exorbitant city’ and the ‘Generic city’ to further enhance the understanding of the Globalization and architectures.
It was interesting that the explanation and characteristic of the exorbitant city reminded me of the city mentioned in “Metropolis” by Lang, in which the details were monotonous and overflowing with same pattern, depicting in some ways what the reading mentioned as “we learn more about the image through the city.” Borrowing from Ackbar’s words, the city is not photogenic, but rather overflowing with details that are not distinguishable of the particular location and country of the background.
The relation between the ‘exorbitant city’ and the ‘generic city’ is also one that is of consideration when reading this piece, in which the term ‘generic city’ is not that of Ackbar’s but borrowed from Koolhas. There is a slight difference in the terms, which I believe Ackbar has made the right choice to borrow this term to further explain the idea of city being able to carry no distinct information but be more transformative, and not confined to one characteristic.
Soo Joung Han
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What are examples of the indistinguishable details Abbas refers to? The two descriptions of the city, “exorbitant” and “generic,” share the similar premise of a consumerist society. To what extent do you think the “exorbitant city” coexists with the “generic city”? What do you understand by “the idea of city being able to carry no distinct information but be more transformative”?