Urbanism, Toronto and Taipei

General Introduction II

2004/2/26

Outline

Urbanism as a Way of Life Toronto Experience

The Meeting Place: Multiculturalism and its Discontent

Architectural Renovation/Preservation Taipei Experience

Multiple-Core City and its Development “Taipei, Taipei” by 石昌杰 My Own Experience: Aestheticization and Co

mmodification of Space; Historical & Invisible Cities

Assignments for next week

Urbanism

the physical entity of the city (e.g. population, density)

A way of life caused by the density, size and heterogeneity of the population of a place.

Louis Wirth

Born in a small village in Germany and then immigrated to the U.S.

One of the Chicago School. His view of urbanism – “the

first, and to this day most, comprehensive statement about the sociological dynamics of modern urban life.” (source;

exemplified in the film Brazil.) True?

August 28, 1897 - May 10, 1952(source )

Questions . . .

What is urbanism as a way of life for Wirth? Can you find any pattern in his sociological definition of the city? (pp. 197)

Systematic interpretations based on factual data.

How does he analyze 1) size of population, 2) density 3) heterogeneity?

What are the three perspectives he takes to look at urbanism?

Do you agree with him? Do you think that there is an ‘urban personality’?

1) size of population variations and differences of urban popul

ation 1) Lack of bonds of kinship, neighborline

ss; in terms of secondary roles 2) And segmentalization of human relatio

nships; the ‘schizoid’ character of urban personal

ity Urban ‘contacts’ – impersonal, transitory,

segmental, and mostly utilitarian (relations of utility)

the state of anomie or the social void Do you agree? ( 蔡明亮’ s films; 李康

生《不見》 )

2) density (p. 192)

1) physical contacts close, but social contacts distant; We depend on visual recognition; develop

a sensitivity to a world of artifacts and become progressively farther removed from the world of nature.

2) land values, specialization of areas tolerance and competition reserved and lonely

Do you agree? (Walking in the City)

3) Heterogeneity (p. 193) Heightened mobility sophistication and

cosmopolitanism of the urbanite. different interests met by different groups;

no undivided allegiance to a single group. the turnover of group membership is rapid.

(So is commodity production and everything else spaces of flows, or non-place).

difficulty in organizing social groups as well as our perception (cognitive mapping; e.g. two blind people touching an elephant through a video camera.)

segregation and de-personalization in large congregations, the use of social facilities, or making propaganda (individuals replaced by categories).

3) Heterogeneity (p. 193)

segregation and de-personalization

Are these the necessary results of social heterogeneity?

Carnival ( 狂歡節 ) and heteroglossia （眾聲喧譁） can be some other metaphors for social interactions and discourses.

Urbanism – approached thru’

Three interrelated perspectives:1. As a physical structure comprising a

population base, a technology, and an ecological order; more in the prime of life; lower birth-rates;

2. As a system of social organization involving a characteristic social structure, a series of social institutions, etc. secondary contacts pp. 195-96

3. As a set of attitudes and ideas, and a constellation of personalities, . . .

Urban Personality and collective behavior Social control mainly achieved through orga

nization and the use of symbols and stereotypes.

Self-government in the unstable equilibrium with of pressure groups.

Territorial units replaced by interest units. society segmented; with a definite center

but no clear periphery. Lack of communication: The more peopl

e involved, the lower the level of communication.

Are we definitely mass-ified by the crowd?

Wirth’s Definition of Urbanism –Summarized

1. Anonymity a shift away from primary relationships to secondary relationships. Urbanites interact with others not as individuals but with others in certain roles.

Personal relations become superficial and transitory.

2. Urban life is marked by collectivity, utilitarianism and efficiency.

3. Segmentation of urban life.

Critique of Wirth’s Views Urbanism as a way of life is not limited to t

he city. Urban problems are not limited to certain places (such as cities).

No definite ‘urban personality.’ There is a nostalgia or preference for the r

ural way of life The other possible interpretations: 1. Capital is urbanized at the same time it

produces urban spaces (e.g. road, factory, school, parks, etc.)

2. Individuals can still ‘walk’ in their cities to carve out their own spaces.

(Ref. 人文地理學詞典選讀 The Dictionary of Human Geography pp. 200-202)

Toronto: Multiculturalism and its DiscontentA. The Meeting Place What have you learned from it? The streets and the landmark clip 1. Canada’s Identity: colonial history and differ

ences from the State Muliticulturalism: Immigrants’ sense of glass

ceiling. Refugee problems –

”How many is too many?” Education (some get “sent to vocational sch

ool to learn how to be a maid, or to fix computers.)

Problems of their past –Some are walking time bombs

Canada’s national identity

At the citizenship ceremony, there are a Black judge and a MC with a ‘Chinese’-looking face;

Their oath: swear to “bear true allegiance to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.“

peace order and good government negative virtue, hoping nothing happens

life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness aggressive

Immigrants’ sense of glass ceiling A Caribbean poet:

few “ethnic” people at Yorkville; have to ask where the immigrants work;

Lillian Allen: a dub poet --less openly racist; sweeping under the car

pet racism; -- implied in stereotyping their home country;

in questions such as ‘Where are you come from?”; in the lack of work opportunities or promotion (“All people are equal, except in winter”.)

A Portuguese radio anchor Able to run for election; ghettoization.

Albert Johnson case –police brutality.

Architecture in Toronto

Architecture in Toronto: City Halls—Old and New

Architecture in Toronto: Trinity College and The Eaton Center

Taipei

What’s your experience of it? Many races Clear segmentations, lack of commun

ication Improvements, fast changes, historie

s ( 大稻埕 , temples) Its Development, past and future ( 詹

宏志、石昌杰 ) My Experience

Taipei: its Development and Multiple Core

From being a harbor to a political center, to a business-oriented metropolis.

Multiple Core – Mostly commercial areas; Where are the cultural cores?

And the historical sites?

Taipei, Taipei by 石昌杰 Brick houses family town with a center,

political center

Taipei, Taipei (2) The forming of concrete prisons and

a concrete jungle

Taipei, Taipei (3) From Modern Period to the Postmodern

Taipei, Taipei (4) The role of the statues

Taipei, Taipei (4) The role of the statues

Authority de-centered

Authority eliminated: 于大佑 at the intersection o

f Ren-ai and Duen-hua

Taipei: Aestheticization and Commodification of Spaces

Images from 台北畫刊

Taipei: Aestheticization of Spaces

Images from 台北畫刊 Left – 永康街 ? Installation arts; e.g. on

Duen-hua, Citizen Blvd.

Nanking-Duenhua Intersection

Nanking-Duenhua Intersection

Nanking-Duenhua Intersection

What do you think?

The Spectacle Society Guy Debord

The fetishism of the commodity ( 商品拜物 ): the domination of society by “intangible as well as tangible things” attains its ultimate fulfillment in the spectacle, where the real world is replaced by a selection of images which are projected above it, yet which at the same time succeed in making themselves regarded as the epitome of reality.

The Society of the Spectacle Chapter 2:The Commodity as Spectacle

http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord/2.htm

The Spectacle Society Guy Debord

The spectacle is the stage at which the commodity has succeeded in totally colonizing social life. Commodification is not only visible, we no longer see anything else; the world we see is the world of the commodity. Modern economic production extends its dictatorship both extensively and intensively. In the less industrialized regions, its reign is already manifested by the presence of a few star commodities and by the imperialist domination imposed by the more industrially advanced regions. In the latter, social space is blanketed with ever-new layers of commodities. With the “second industrial revolution,” [post-industrial capitalism] alienated consumption has become just as much a duty for the masses as alienated production.

Taipei: Historical & Invisible Cities

Taipei: Historical & Invisible Cities

Taipei: Historical & Invisible Cities

Assignments for next week

Ararat (film) by Atom Egoyan Chapter II of In the Skin of a Lion