Thoughts on Cities
It is no easy task to put the energy, flow, and transformation of the city into a literary context that one can immediately understand or relate to. Metropolitan cities began as focal points of commerce and government, where the aspiration for power and prosperity drove their existence. They have always been places where vast amounts of not only raw energy like electricity are consumed, but also human energy. The crowded design of cities has allowed for more efficient distribution of energy, information, as well as swift movement within them. If cities were not this way, it is obvious they would not have become the expansive powerhouses of the global economy that they are today. That rhymed.
The major cities of today have become what they are through the very advancements and improvements they produced. Where once business relied on mail and telephones, Internet has taken over. Speed and efficiency are now the name of the game. Information flows effortlessly through complex networks of wire and fiber optic cable. Conference rooms have somewhat become obsolete. And while these have changed the ways cities operate, physically they remain quite similar, if just on a much, much grander scale.
Here’s an analogy:
Five days a week cities, like giant lungs of the economy, take a deep breath in, drawing ridiculous amounts of people from the suburbs to their respective workplaces.
They scurry to their cubicles, which we’ll call the hemoglobin of business. They keep the free market functioning, expending much of their energy into their work. They fill the skyways (veins), moving from building to building, company to company, the organs of the free market. Some are vital, while others are arguably appendix-like in importance or function. Just as manpower flows into the city, so do massive amounts of electricity. Consumers also flow into cities, basically providing food for the economy.
Of course businesses generally don’t physically eat the consumers themselves, just their savings. Immense transfer of people, energy, and information takes place all day, until the cities take a long breath out, spewing moms and dads back into the ‘burbs. After this people come back into the city, but for different reasons, and flowing has something to do with alcohol.
“What about outsourcing?� I hear you asking. Where does that fit into our analogy of a city as a living organism? Is this a loss of energy? I think it is more of a transformation than anything else. Jobs are lost to oversees labor, and while it’s not usual seen as a good thing, it is cheaper and keeps businesses competitive with one another. Let’s call it supplemental oxygen, since companies today would almost suffocate without it.
I can’t keep this analogy going forever, but the point I’m trying to make here is that cities aren’t just collections of buildings crammed together. Cities are built upon and for the interaction of people, businesses, and government. They provide the means of keeping living standards where they are. They help advance our societies. What I have put forth doesn’t even scratch the surface of the subject, but it is a brief and well-intentioned attempt. Here is where I would write a really deep, meaningful closing sentence, but I can’t think of one right now. Have a good day.