Representations of the City

Blog This!: How to Know London

Adam Reed, U of Surrey
quotes Ford Maddox Ford’s 1905 “The Soul of London,” talking about the compulsion to record a city which can never be completely grasped, only seen in fleeting impressions.

[I’m reminded of the “secret knowledge” of LA, which is all about the “back way,” which has fewer stop signs/traffic lights/cars]

for London bloggers the city looms large in entries and in daily life

blogs help bloggers define themselves and London as subjects ‡ impulse to blog immediately, all the time

Listening to the Gateposts…: Reflecting on “The City”

Simon Grimble, Cambridge
thinking about the first view of the city, from one approaching (in Jude the Obscure and Great Expectations) – the city seen from the air and far away, vs the city seen close-up and from street level

Urban governance and bureaucratic representations of the city in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Catherine Alexander, Goldsmiths

parallels between city change, personal change, and the big questions of the future

the city plan as a plan to think with, yet the city plan for Almaty is increasingly out of touch b/c official statistics are not measuring reality

Q: (Jonathan W) highlight forms of movement?
Catherine A: movement into and out of city seen as dangerous, with SARS, immigration, and the global market threatening
Simon G: movement into the city (London) can be ironic/playful
Adam R: movement around London as way to index the city


Q: (Christena N-E) look at artifacts and visual narratives (instead of just texts)?