OBE # 3 Webber Urbane or Insane?
Webster's dictionary defines a cosmopolitan as "a person who is free from local, provincial, or national bias or attachment; citizen of the world; cosmopolite: "sophisticated Urbane, worldly. In Melvin M. Webber's "Deadalus" he argues that there has been a decline in urbanization in "The Post-City Age." Webber attributes this decline to the prevalence and increased availability of telephones and airplane's. In this blog I will share personal experiences that prove Webbers theories correct while also arguing that the term Urban has changed in the minds of the American people.
In Webber's "Deadalus" he states that "Air transportation and the telephone... were eliminating the traditional space- time constraints on human interaction and bringing about stunning cultural changes in the nature of an increasingly global human civilization." This quote encapsulates Webber's primary argument. I agree with this statement and would argue that this manifestation has become even more apparent in 2007 with the advent of cell-phones. The cell phone has made it even easier for people to reach each other in different places and has made communication with people in different areas extremely simple. I like Webber would argue that this invention has brought about increased cultural change as many phone companies make it even easier than the phone companies to make calls to places not just all over the country but all over the world as well. Whether you are a Businessman trying to call a client in Beijing or a college student calling home to check on a care package, communication has become extremely effortless and less personal.
Another argument made by Webber is that "Americans are forming social communities comprised of spatially dispersed members. A new kind of large scale urban society is emerging that is increasingly independency of the city. While I agree with what Webber is arguing I contend that in today's society the term Urban by definition is attributed to those that live in city and while people can be Urbane and separate from the city it is impossible to be Urban. Webber's foreshadowing on the state of the city is amazing. Because of the export of manual labor jobs, and "White flight" have taken place at such amazing rates from 1968 to 2007 property rates, and living conditions in cities have gone down drastically. Because of this the word Urban has taken on a negative connotation that is assumed to be a label for minorities, and lower class white city dwellers. This definition of Urban is a far cry from the urbane socialite that Webber describes.
Webber touches on the changing definition of Urbanites and says that they "no longer reside exclusively in metropolitan settlements, or do ruralites live exclusively in the hinterlands." Webber argues that in today's society all you need is a college education and or money in order to be considered an Urbanite and that urban dwellers (immigrants, minorities) have become the new hicks who are uninformed about the world surrounding their neighborhood. I agree with Webber that money, race (although he skirts around this underlying issue), and class are all things that have kept the cities masses from becoming cosmopolitans.
While airplanes and telephones have a lot to do with the simplicity of cosmopolitans interacting with other cosmopolitans, I strongly disagree that this has anything to do with the state of the city. The reason why cosmopolites are being raised largely in suburbs is because when minorities were finally able to obtain a level of economic success and Jim Crow laws were abolished (coincidently right around the time this was written) the people who used to live in these Urban areas began to leave at an alarming rate. Real estate agents were then able to convince other cosmopolites and inspiring cosmopolites to move out of their homes for far less money than there homes were worth. THis trend continued and soon the entire landscape of cities around the country had changed. This is why property rates in these towns plummeted and why many bigoted people don’t want any urban duelers to move into their cosmopolitan safe havens. Telephones had nothing to do with this. In addition the outsourcing of jobs from America’s cities (i.e. the ford motor plants in Detroit) due to the capitalistic need to save money by underpaying workers contributed to current state of spatial relations. Airplanes no doubt had a large part in this. Businessmen (excuse me cosmopolitans) have to have their first class flights to get around the country and around the world in order to close deal’s that drive their costs down and put more money in other more rich cosmopolitans hands. And hoe else would we be able to export the products made overseas in sweatshops? Boats? That would take like years!
People concerned about the city needs have no fear gentrification is here. Soon all urbanities will no longer have to pretend like they grew up and were cultured in the city as opposed to “TV and computer-aided educational systems, no-toll long distance telephone service, and real-time access to national computer-based information systems” (Webber pg. 473). Gentrification will soon disenfranchise city dwellers as corporate giants cut checks and reclaim the neighborhoods that good suits (WOOPS the urbane, urbanites or is it cosmopolitans) rightfully deserve.