[Reading Response: Carl Abbott]

Our traditional notion is that cities are static. I am using the word ‘traditional’ here, but the notion is by no means outdated. I do not think that Tokyo is moving, nor do I believe that there are any plans for its migration.

Despite this, there are many movies that portray migratory cities. For example, in Snowpiercer, a city is presented in the form of a constantly moving train. As far as I know, this is because the movie depicts a world (presumably in the future) where environmental problems have forced people to live in a train that collects energy resources as it moves along.

In this way, a lot of movies (mostly sci-fi) portray cities that have to be migratory due to severe environmental challenges and energy depletion. In my opinion, this reflects our rather grim belief that humanity is hurtling toward its demise, along with our fear of climate change.

I am not sure whether migratory cities will materialize in the near future. Nevertheless, I am sure that this concept of moving cities is a product of a fine imagination.

Yumin Kim 3035745740

1 thought on “[Reading Response: Carl Abbott]

  1. Sammie says:

    I think there are some examples of cities ‘moving’ (to a certain extent), such as Jakarta. I am not sure if it is your intended meaning, but the phrase ‘hurtling toward its demise’ leads me to wonder if people’s response of ‘moving’ to major environmental problems (whether literally, or in terms of making technological progresses) may actually further exacerbate them.

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