In the tutorial, our discussion is led towards the repetition of cities, where urbanism has made places to gradually lose their individuality. This reminded me of the term “cookie-cutter” architecture and people. Cookie-cutters make cookies identically shaped and sized. Cities are under a similar mindset across cities, where development, economy, trade takes up a great role, acting as the cookie cutter. Architecture and people are getting very similar to one another like the cookies. Cities have lost individuality in terms of function, buildings, and even down to human mentality, the goals and achievements people are going to pursue.
Skyscrapers are easily the solution for the large population in cities, almost made cities non-identifiable. Cities tried to use utilise iconic architecture pieces to distinguish themselves, like the Bank of China in Hong Kong, where only part of the city is recognisable in pictures. This kind of melancholy as expressed in films is provoking as it reminded me of the need to express individuality for architecture or cities despite the social situation. There is a need for innovation, which we have to be practised on a daily basis to gradually achieve it on a larger scale and have an impact on the environment.
By Hui Yui Gi Catherine
3035698014
Appreciate your critical reflection on urbanization and modernization that homogenized cityscapes across the globe, particularly, bringing in the term of a “cookie-cutter” approach in urbanism. You’ve pointed out the idea of a “generic city” in Abbas’s “Global Cities: Cinema, architecture, and urbanism in a digital age” and also his underlying idea of “disappearance” throughout his works. In Tsuitsui’s text, how did he reflect on the idea of iconic architecture in monster films? Do you think the usage of iconic architectures in monster films actively challenges the idea of a generic city and the urbanization process?