The Natural City

 We've been waiting all our lives
for things we've always had but have no eyes to see.
Something new is going to happen,
The most natural thing but nothin' we'd expect.

All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes.

How do cities understand?
We drink our wine and wonder why we're really here
What's the point of even asking?
You take the good and bad and make the best of it.

All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes.

All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes.
have you watched the cities move
does nature fall before this age of industry
for today I'll let it go
you've been good to me have I been good to you?
All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes

All these buildings and mountains
slowly they'll arise
before our eyes

The song "Buildings and Mountains", by the Republic Tigers may seem like meaningless existentialism to some, but I want to explore an idea that they bring up: Is there a connection between the city and nature? In a black & white world, the answer is no, but when looking at the grey area they are in many ways connected in how they are defined. Just looking at the lyrics, in the chorus, they say that both buildings and mountains will arise; in the same way that nature grows and changes, sometimes shaped by humans, the cities develop in the same way. They ask "how do cities understand?" as though there is some connection between the city and its inhabitants, as though the city is made to be perfect and these flawed creatures live within it. It talks about cities moving and nature falling before it, but not in the form of a statement, but in a question. This brings up the question of is nature strong enough to resist the growth of this mechanized city, or does the city replace it all together. The Republic Tigers might be right that the city itself could be "the most natural thing, but nothin' we'd expect".


In many ways, the city does replace Nature. A passage in the nior novel, The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler, really brought my attention to this idea. The passage reads:

"It's beautiful." I pulled up beside a loading platform. We got out. I listened. The hum of traffic was a distant web of sound, like the buzzing of bees. The place was as lonely as a churchyard. Even after the rain, the tall eucalyptus trees still looked dusty. They always look dusty. A branch broken off by the wind had fallen over the edge of the sump and the flat leathery leaves dangled in the water.

Looking at this scene, it seems very desolate and that nature has been destroyed by the city that developed in novel, but I view it as more of a new kind of nature, what the Republic Tigers would say is the most natural thing, but nothing you would expect. The layer of dust that coats the trees acts like a haze that is spurs the evolution of the trees to last in the city, as though the layer of dust protects them from being destroyed by the city, but changes them so that they are now something less than a tree, and the leaves from it are now leathery as a means of adapting to the city. The bees that would be found in nature, carrying pollen for plants to grow and reproduce, are replaced by cars that carry cargo or people that allows for cities to grow and reproduce. The empty spaces that formerly belonged to nature are even now used for churches and people. The stereotypical view of the city is that it destroys nature to make room for the city, but this passage almost shows how the city doesn't destroy nature, but instead forces it to change with the city in order to survive. 

In more modern times, there have been efforts made in society to try and restore nature to its former glory before the city, within the city. This notion of making a city "green" simply by making it more energy efficient and using new forms of energy. The currently accepted "bad" non-sustainable energy sources are plants that use coal, nuclear, gas, or similar fuel sources; what is know as "good" sustainable energy sources are solar panels, wind turbines, or dams. So what society considers to be "green" energy sources are the sun, wind, and water. Ask any biologist what plants need to grow and survive and he'll most likely tell you, the sun, air, and water. So are these new buildings that claim to be "green" so far from plants themselves? If you think about the economic advantages of using sustainable energy sources, inside such large (non-residential) buildings, businesses develop and grow inside them, and not having to pay as much for energy over the long run can lead for more growth, maybe creating branches, spreading out. Just the phrase green energy makes people think of a city that can get all its energy through the same methods that energy is made in nature to in some ways make the city more like nature. City and nature are two contrasting things that are becoming more alike as they both try to grow and thus have to grow into the other.

The Imperfection of Perfection within Cities

Tron Legacy is a science fiction film directed by Joseph Kosinski. The main characters of this movie are Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn and Clu, and Garret Hedlund as Sam (Kevin Flynn's son). Tron is a movie about Sam's journey into a virtual reality world that his father, Kevin Flynn created, called The Grid. After the disaperance of his father, Sam became the biggest share holder of his father's company, ENCOM. However, Sam was not interested in his father's company. One day, Alan Bradley, ENCOM's executive, approached Sam about a mysterious "page" that was sent from his father's computer from an old abandoned arcade. While investigating the arcade, Sam found a secret computer room, where he accidentally sent himself into the virtual reality world created by his father: The Grid.

While watching the movie, I noticed parallels and contrast between Tron city and the city in reality.

Compared to the authorities in the real city, the authorities in Tron city were much stricter. In the beginning of the movie, before Sam teleported himself to Tron city, he violated the law several times, but got away: speeding on the highway and breaking into his father's company. However, when Sam arrived at Tron city, he was viewed as a flaw within the system and was immediately captured. Authorities in Tron city seek out all flaws and imperfections in the city, in order to make it the perfect city, as his father had programmed it to be. Flawed “programs” (humans in Tron city) were either "rectified" or forced to play a game, a battle to the death. Corruption and violation of the laws in Tron city was strictly punished or corrected immediately. In contrast, in the real city, the human system is not as effective in dealing with crimes.

In addition, both cities represent modernization. In the real city, we see modernization from the old brick building of the arcade to the tall, glistering glass skyscraper of ENCOM. In the Grid, the city of Tron is located in a middle of nowhere, surrounded by the barren, rocky terrain. The contrast between the structured and lighted city of Tron to the bare and wild terrain that surrounds the city, emphasizes how modernization of a city creates a boundary between humans and nature. The motor bikes used to travel around Tron city, could not be used in the rocky terrain. Compared to the arcade, the ENCOM building was much more sophisticated and technologically advanced. Similarly, Tron city is a technologically advanced city, but it separates itself from the natural world.Finally, this movie wrestles with the idea of the “perfect” city and the corruption of technology. Technological advances and development has always been seen as beneficial to human needs. However, in Tron Legacy, Kevin Flynn attempted to use technology to create the perfect world for humans to live in. He created Clu, and programmed him to help create the “perfect” world. However, Clu saw human qualities as an imperfection that needed to be destroyed. This shows how technology can be useful and beneficial, but we should not depend on technology to do human responsibilities.

Shanghai, shanghai

Shanghai is one of the largest cities by population in the world. During the last decade of the booming of Chinese economy, it has flourished to a global city, exerting influence over finance, commerce, fashion, technology and culture.


Today, Shanghai is the leading financial center in Asian continent; it's own stock market Shanghai Stock Exchange ranked their among worldwide stock exchanges in terms of trading volume; it has over 20 million residents; it just held the World Exposition in 2010; it has over 13 metro transportation lines; ATP World Tour took place in Shanghai; F1 took place in Shanghai; Transformer 2 was shot in Shanghai......


However, under the shade of prosperity, Shanghai is a vicious magnet, attracting migrant laborers to come and contribute their life to the venal magnates. Let's look at some facts and statistics. Shanghai has a bigger population than Australia's. Out of the 23 million people in the city, 9 million of them are migrants from all over the country. Then, out of the rest of 14 million residents, only 35% of them are natural Shanghaiese, born in Shanghai and speak Shanghaiese, a local dialect only spoken in Shanghai, distinct to Mandarin Chinese. Similar to the immigrants culture in New York City, a foreign is formed by various groups of emigrants in Shanghai.


This is a typical tenement, maybe even a fancy one since it has only one storey and a yard. Behind the tenement we can see that there is a silver modern building. In all the images one can find online, Shanghai is composed by a medley of uneven fashionable buildings, but here in this picture there is only one. On the second door from the right, a red Chinese letter is written on it: "拆“, which means demolishing. The tenement we are looking at here is about to be pulled down, or already pulled down by now. Because another groups of modern building is about to be constructed here. It means that the migrant workers living in the tenement are forced to leave and find somewhere else to squeeze in.


shanghai v. to put by trickery into an undesirable position

Other than the "Shanghai" you can find here, (just kidding, here). There exists the invisible "shanghai" behind it. It locates at every blind spot away from the city's resplendence. Shanghai, lures these migrant workers with its exhaustible opportunities and limitless wealth, cram them into slums and extort cheap labor from them. No "rags to riches" story could possibly blossom there because "infants" are already smothered in the "nursery". While the urban city expands, these "ugly" tenements are torn down and workers are driven out from their home. The city's improvement is based on the sacrifice of diligent, innocent workers. Once a worker offered all his labor to the city, the city repels him, leaving him no opportunity nor even a shack for him to live. Behind the glory and splendor, the human nature of greed and hideousness forms the invisible city - shanghai.

After all, where can he go?