“Migratory cities” seem fantastic and full of scientific and technological sense.
However, as Abbott said the flowing city will be in a “bubble” and the “walking city” will be a “self-sufficient” city. Both of them show the closed attitude. For the happiness inside the city ,they would like to disconnect from the world and nature.This is some similar to “build a wall between slum and rich neighborhood” in Brazil ,which makes “closed neighborhood” with many disadvantage.
And the movement of the mass requires a great deal of energy. Sci-fi film Wondering Earth is under the background of the engine that propels earth forward sputters,which also show the importance of energy.Maybe we should put energy in area in demand.
The movement may also make noise.Li wrote in his book about the sound of a moving huge movable wall “sounds like earthquake”.We also need to find resolution to reduce noise before building migratory cities.
Yifan ZHANG 303577281
You made a good observation and reflection on how the migratory cities described in Abbot’s piece were mainly have individualistic character, or a closed-off attitude, as you would have put it. I think this idea is worthy of further exploration and elaboration. For example, you mentioned how it reminded you of the gated communities in Brazil (although they certainly exist in other parts of the world as well). In a sense, identity there is clearly defined by one’s role/position in the community. Elaborating more on an imagination if the application of distributed city concept would narrow or broaden the existing social (class) distance could help you focus when narrating your arguments.