Definition of a City #1
A Greek city. ©SAATAN
“Cities are the spatial articulations of political, demographic, economic, technological and cultural developments which take place on local, regional, national and global scales. A city is continuously being shaped by its context, and its identity, form and function are continuously being redefined. It is a dynamic entity which is unceasingly being crystallized through ruling societal standards and values, dominant economic structures and sectors, and cultural and political ideas and power relations (extracted from Sennett, 1992; Fainstein, 2001; Lefebvre, 2002; King, 2007).”
This first definition is a relatively formal one that I have written in my thesis, in order to try to get a comprehensive grasp of the complex organisms we call cities.
This is part of a series of definitions of cities featured on City Breaths. The aim is to collect definitions from different perspectives. The definitions will tell us something about what the role of urban space is in sustaining human life, the way we experience and perceive urban space and the sensations it creates in us. You are welcome to add more interpretations. The other definitions can be read here.
Fainstein, S.S. (2001) City Builders: Property Development in New York and London, 1980-2000. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
King, A.D. (2007) Boundaries, Networks and Cities: Playing and Replaying Diaspories and Histories. In: T. Bender and A. Cinar (eds.), Urban Imaginaries, pp. 1-14.
Lefebvre, H. (1978) De l'État IV. Les Contradictions de l'État Moderne. La Dialectique et/de l'État, pp. 259-324. Paris: Union Générale d'Editions.
Sennet, R. (1992) Conscience of the Eye: The Design and Social Life of Cities. New York: W.W. Norton & Company
