Maya reading week 6

Paul Virilio's Over exposed City



Question of going into the city verses going to the city. I really liked how this question alludes to our invisible and physical boundaries.

You know you are in a city when there is a distinct aspect, you know you have crossed the boundary not when you potentially see iconic images that we use to define the city. Even though you are in the city, you may not believe you are actually there. The relationship between the image and your actual experience are different. Seeing the city skyline, or seeing a very defined boundary such as New York Manhattan when you establish that you are in the city because you have gone over one of the bridges and are on the island. The other problem associated with not knowing if you are in the city, is because the sprawl of surrounding communities have no defining characteristic. The suburbs of New York look similar to the suburbs of LA and similarly the suburbs of Winnipeg look similar to any suburbs of other Canadian cities. I use to live in Airdrie which is out side of the city of Calgary. We use to drive into the “City” each day to drop my Mom off down town and for me to go to school. I always remember seeing the city limit sign that apparently defines where the city is, but looking around all you see are fields, houses. I actually only feel that I know where the city is when I see the sky line as I approach downtown. That is where the city is, even though the physical boundary, or imaginary boundary on the map is located elsewhere.



Ephemeral, fortress that is keeping things internalized, verses our post modern time that does not want to fit into one category or another. Things now push the boundaries and do not follow the rules. Our boundaries are no longer physical, like the wall you see between the Mexico and American border. Instead these boundaries are "immaterial." Since they exist as momentary and instantaneous expressions (549).

I think that this makes it difficult for our global culture to communicate and determine which resources belong to who. If the boundaries are constantly being redefined, we exist in a suspended state of unknowing. If we are all in this state, it is easy to understand how our "cultural reference points" are disappearing.

I particularly liked the comment that our actual "physical structures" are becoming introverted, as they contain all the technology needed to connect you to where ever you want to go. Why is it in this environment we feel safe? Is it the anonymity, control, or illusionistic freedom we have over this technology? I think that although the Internet is opening up communication, it is also threatening the boundaries that we use to establish national and cultural identity. If we, like our cities, are just made up of individual pockets of beliefs, what then do we refer to as our common belief system? What unifies us as a nation, or as a city? Cities that do not clearly define themselves are physical places with place less identity.