10. The City is a School
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Because in the city we are confronted by strangers each day, because by living in the city we step out to meet the world every morning, the city presents a perfect opportunity to learn from our fellow strangers, people who have had experiences in life very different from our own. Some of this learning is quite formal; there are classrooms, teachers, preschools, high schools, universities and seminars. However, the bulk of the learning that actually goes on in a city may occur almost accidentally. It comes from observation of other people going about their lives, in hallways, offices, elevators, subways, and especially in the theatre that is the urban streetscape where people from all walks of life, from every corner of the globe, encounter each other, however briefly. In these encounters we observe the way people dress, the way people celebrate, the way they mourn, we hear the political and religious ideas of other people, and we can see the moral codes they follow as we observe how they treat each other. We see what, and when and how much people, how the exercise and relax. We see how much or little people value the city in their reactions to us and to the built environment. We observe how people use technology, the businesses they start, how they interact with the economy. Then, quite often, we find that some of these things have become our own. Because so much space in the city is shared, and a substantial portion fully public, the majority of ones time may be spent learning and observing the way we may choose to live.
People learn in this way in every place imaginable, but only in the city will this learning occur with the most frantic speed. Not only does the city give us the opportunity to learn from more people, but because we are all strangers in the city, we can act in more bold and inventive ways, we can reinvent our entire identity in a single day. This further magnifies the diversity found in the city. Old ideas are recombined and reinvented, new ideas have the chance to spread like wildfire.
No wonder the mavens of media, art, academics, politics and fashion choose the city as a base of operations. In the city one can observe thousands of styles, walks, sounds, music, words and technology in their incubatory stages. Because of the rapid pace of change and the multilayered and multithreaded nature of the story of culture (for all of these elements learned through observation are the building blocks of culture) the city can seem chaotic. No one cultural ideal ever comes to dominate the dynamic thriving city. To be sure, there are those who are wealthy or powerful or both, there are academic luminaries and feared critics of art, fashion, politics and food, but they do not, in fact they cannot, direct the course of the city. The city is a collective creative engine driven by millions of fiercely individual choices.
People come to the city to learn, both explicitly as university students, but also to work in many industries where their expertise becomes a major point of pride if they ever happen to leave the metropolis. Police offices, teachers, dancers, financers, chefs, waiters, actors, editors even garbage men with big-city experience command a little extra respect when they happen to move to other places. The hope is that these people have learned a great deal from their experience in the city and a bit of their expertise might rub off on their provincial comrades. It is not always true of course. One may wonder why they left the city in the first place. Though, in practice, it is this outflow that sustains the flow of ideas and practices through industry, through the arts, and academia.
When a provincial person has a great idea they are advised by their peers to take it to the city. Practically, so that they might make a fortune or gain some fame, but this advice is subtly self-serving. If we share what we find that is good or what we think might be good) with all humanity, all people benefit . . . including ourselves.
Some of this would seem to be stating the obvious. But, it was not long ago that some planning theorists declared the city to be obsolete. First the telegraph, then later the phone, television and finally the internet were touted as solutions to the ‘problem’ of cities. Ironically, each of these technologies has only seemed to intensify the density of cities by allowing, perhaps, for greater organization. Only the car has ever seriously threatened the existence of city, by draining urban centers and inducing massive low-grade sprawl, and even then it only happened with government assistance in the form of questionable lending practices, highways and urban “renewal.” Though the tide among planning theorists has largely turned, it still seems necessary to restate why cities work, and how they benefit people not just materially but also spiritually.
The city is a school and it is a school of culture and of what it is to be human. We are not just learning about the things mentioned above, but we are also learning about other people and, through that, we learn about ourselves. The city confronts us with mankind in all of its splendor and squalor and, through what we see, we may find ourselves more willing to discover our love for other people. That common ground that some would call the foundation of the soul.
Last: 9. A Palace With Many Rooms
Next: 11. The Wounded City
From: The Urban Naturalist.
Because in the city we are confronted by strangers each day, because by living in the city we step out to meet the world every morning, the city presents a perfect opportunity to learn from our fellow strangers, people who have had experiences in life very different from our own. Some of this learning is quite formal; there are classrooms, teachers, preschools, high schools, universities and seminars. However, the bulk of the learning that actually goes on in a city may occur almost accidentally. It comes from observation of other people going about their lives, in hallways, offices, elevators, subways, and especially in the theatre that is the urban streetscape where people from all walks of life, from every corner of the globe, encounter each other, however briefly. In these encounters we observe the way people dress, the way people celebrate, the way they mourn, we hear the political and religious ideas of other people, and we can see the moral codes they follow as we observe how they treat each other. We see what, and when and how much people, how the exercise and relax. We see how much or little people value the city in their reactions to us and to the built environment. We observe how people use technology, the businesses they start, how they interact with the economy. Then, quite often, we find that some of these things have become our own. Because so much space in the city is shared, and a substantial portion fully public, the majority of ones time may be spent learning and observing the way we may choose to live.
People learn in this way in every place imaginable, but only in the city will this learning occur with the most frantic speed. Not only does the city give us the opportunity to learn from more people, but because we are all strangers in the city, we can act in more bold and inventive ways, we can reinvent our entire identity in a single day. This further magnifies the diversity found in the city. Old ideas are recombined and reinvented, new ideas have the chance to spread like wildfire.
No wonder the mavens of media, art, academics, politics and fashion choose the city as a base of operations. In the city one can observe thousands of styles, walks, sounds, music, words and technology in their incubatory stages. Because of the rapid pace of change and the multilayered and multithreaded nature of the story of culture (for all of these elements learned through observation are the building blocks of culture) the city can seem chaotic. No one cultural ideal ever comes to dominate the dynamic thriving city. To be sure, there are those who are wealthy or powerful or both, there are academic luminaries and feared critics of art, fashion, politics and food, but they do not, in fact they cannot, direct the course of the city. The city is a collective creative engine driven by millions of fiercely individual choices.
People come to the city to learn, both explicitly as university students, but also to work in many industries where their expertise becomes a major point of pride if they ever happen to leave the metropolis. Police offices, teachers, dancers, financers, chefs, waiters, actors, editors even garbage men with big-city experience command a little extra respect when they happen to move to other places. The hope is that these people have learned a great deal from their experience in the city and a bit of their expertise might rub off on their provincial comrades. It is not always true of course. One may wonder why they left the city in the first place. Though, in practice, it is this outflow that sustains the flow of ideas and practices through industry, through the arts, and academia.
When a provincial person has a great idea they are advised by their peers to take it to the city. Practically, so that they might make a fortune or gain some fame, but this advice is subtly self-serving. If we share what we find that is good or what we think might be good) with all humanity, all people benefit . . . including ourselves.
Some of this would seem to be stating the obvious. But, it was not long ago that some planning theorists declared the city to be obsolete. First the telegraph, then later the phone, television and finally the internet were touted as solutions to the ‘problem’ of cities. Ironically, each of these technologies has only seemed to intensify the density of cities by allowing, perhaps, for greater organization. Only the car has ever seriously threatened the existence of city, by draining urban centers and inducing massive low-grade sprawl, and even then it only happened with government assistance in the form of questionable lending practices, highways and urban “renewal.” Though the tide among planning theorists has largely turned, it still seems necessary to restate why cities work, and how they benefit people not just materially but also spiritually.
The city is a school and it is a school of culture and of what it is to be human. We are not just learning about the things mentioned above, but we are also learning about other people and, through that, we learn about ourselves. The city confronts us with mankind in all of its splendor and squalor and, through what we see, we may find ourselves more willing to discover our love for other people. That common ground that some would call the foundation of the soul.
Last: 9. A Palace With Many Rooms
Next: 11. The Wounded City
From: The Urban Naturalist.