OBE 3 - Smorgasbord
In Louis Wirth’s, “Urbanism as a Way of Life”, he writes about the typical traits of a city. For the most part, the city is artificial. The city is made of concrete and steel, and is regulated with rules. Also, the city is very densely populated and is a diverse environment. All of these aspects of the city play a role in affecting its city dwellers which I’ve never really thought about.
The city occupies a very large area of space and is made up of materials which were made by man. However, sometimes I hardly notice it due to the many trees planted between the traffic signals and garbage cans. Within this large space, it is heavily populated with people. To maintain order, every city has similar rules that people follow like “Do Not Walk” means don’t cross the street. There are also rules that have been created through the people. Similar to automobile traffic, cars drive on the right side of a road and for the most part, so do people. However, there are some acceptions of people who disturb this regulated flow by walking on the left side.
The city harbors a very diverse population of people of different ethnicities which brings culture. The amount of cultures within the city can be measured as a smorgasbord. These different cultures are swimming around the city which allows people learn about their differences and learn to accept and live with them. People can also hand-pick what they like which creates all different types of specific individuals. With this said, people are made up of different cultures versus one major culture. Thus, there is a lack of strong connection and a feel of identity. The outcome of all of this is, like the amounts of cultures, is the creation of a smorgasbord of groups.
The interactions in many cities are very similar and significant. Physical interactions are high. For instance, the city is densely packed so to be squished between people in spaces like the bus and trains and elevators is common. The social interactions however are very low. The feeling of weak connections between people mostly applies to this area. In addition to that, in cities, there are more strangers than acquaintances.
The city is run under a very strong sense of capitalism. This system supplies many job opportunities which draw a massive amount of people to come to the city. Because there are so many people who are able to work certain positions, they are easily disposable and replaceable. In addition to the lack of identity, people can also feel like commodities.
The city is highly populated. Because of this, many wonderful and not so wonderful things bloom from it. People from all walks of life come to the city and express their differences in cultures which allow people to learn about others and develop a sense of cultural relativism. The problem with this is the potential to feel out of place within the city. In addition, you can also feel like a tool or a commodity. And on a broader scale, social interactions suffer because of the massive population size. The city is a smorgasbord of many different things.