how we shape cities, and cities shape us
Greif situates fitness culture at the nexus of several contemporary threads: the relentless quantification of everything, the drive to optimize the self, the decline of public space—and, of course, “wellness,” as the concept has come to be known. We all want to be “well,” or should want to, at least. But why?
Matter
n Hannah Black’s essay for Artforum, “Go Outside,” she describes the possibilities illuminated by 2020’s riots, emphasizing a return to social life and public space. A riot, she writes, is “just something that can happen when a lot of people are outside in the same place.” She continues: “By providing new uses for public space—by uprooting street... See more
Protean Magazine • There Are Trees in the Future, Or, a Case for Staying
Cities are synonymous with modernity not just because they usually contain the latest technologies or play host to the latest trends, but because they socialize us into modern people who seek status, validation, and uniqueness.
David A. Banks • The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America
“A neighbourhood is not only an association of buildings but also a network of social relationships, an environment where the feelings and the sympathy can flourish.” -
Jane Jacobs
Alexi Gunner • idle gaze 002: Community thrives through bustling neighbourhoods and casual chatter.
We accept today that the days of startup cities, at least in the West, are over, but I don't think we should. And the societal changes that a post-COVID world makes possible could restart this cycle. For thousands of years, ambitious young people have had to move to big cities run by the kind of people who run big cities to maximize opportunity in... See more
Marc Andreessen • The Dubrovnik Interviews: Marc Andreessen - Interviewed by a Retard
Chloë Sevigny on NYC: "The athleisure and the dogs are taking over, and that’s really unfortunate. Everybody’s in Lululemon and has a fucking dog and it’s driving me crazy. I’m sorry, dog lovers. There are too many of you."
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The story of humanity is an urban one, a slow 20,000 year drift towards a largely urban condition. A city does the same thing to individualism that a natural ecosystem does to a tree — thriving there is about living well with people who are not like you. Just as a tree revels in those multifarious interdependencies, so we do with cities.
Medium • 11: Post-traumatic urbanism and radical indigenism
