THE LANGUAGE OF CITIES (Book Review)
The book is all about the varieties of cities, how the word ‘city’ is not bound by its technical definition, and is a term that will continue to evolve in this digital age. With examples of how mega cities were built; Deyan Sudjic gives a breakdown on ‘how to make a city’. He points out the common characteristics of cities that succeed; and those that fail and might fail. He discusses the moral compromises and ethics in urban development; how urbanity is the difference between a city and a ‘not city’. He describes a ‘real city’ as a city that grants its residents freedom of expression and the kind that depends on democracy – a government that has democratic accountability. He reiterates that developments should consider the pedestrian scale. The possibility of a crowd in a city isn’t necessarily bad; it’s what makes it complete. A city may initially benefit, in terms of investment, from oversimplifying the city: but it makes it lose its complexity, its ability to reinvent itself – which is what the author accounts for a city’s success in the long run. Lastly, Deyan Sudjic discussed the role of the population in a city: that a city should attract people, especially the young and talented (but attracting the young and the talented alone, is barely a city).
The book, though small, is packed with information; it feeds you a lot in just one paragraph. The writing style used in this book does not provide you with information in enumerated form; instead, it gives you events and examples that lead to the author’s point (also leads to more questions). He promotes ethics, in theory, in relation to his subject but also acknowledges that reality is far more complex.
(I’d like to thank my friend @aefefania, for being the model in these photographs)
