Abstract for assigned reading

by

Sruthi Murthala

Submitted to

“Dr Anjali Mohan

The City”

September 6th, 2023

 The author Hollis, L., in the first chapter of the book “Cities Are Good for You: The
Genius of the Metropolis,” explores What a “City” is and delves into the fundamental concept
of what it means to be a city. Thus, the chapter presents a basic understanding of the evolution
of cities, their role in human civilisation, the nature of cities, their functions, and why they
matter in today's world.
The author points out that the most misunderstood question is the city's anatomy, as
different people (thinkers, architects, scientists) have different traditional opinions and
definitions of the city based on its creation, urban characteristics, size, and shape. With
evolving technological innovations, there is a need to dynamically rethink the meaning of a
metropolis. Hollis examines two cities, Barcelona and Houston, to address the question of the
endless expansion of the megapolis/city forces one to think about what a city is as it loses its
centre and the social cost of the change. Where do cities come from? Adam Smith’s theory that
cities grew out of villages/countryside has been challenged. The first city of the Harappa is
termed the first urban revolution, revealing that the city was born out of trade, technology, and
innovation that transformed agriculture from subsistence farming to new kinds of work and
other industries.
Cities are born out of a revolution and are places of more than survival. There is no
true identity or a single explanation for the term city. The interesting question from the reading
is: Where can we locate the true city? Is it in the area's fabric or its inhabitants' hustle and
bustle? Hollis contrasts the elegant and majestic city of Beijing, a perfectly built city arranged
in squares, with that of Hudson Street, with streets filled with human drama. Often, bustle has
been the biggest problem in the city. However, in her study, Jane Jacobs describes streets as the
organising force of the metropolis, and streets are complex in action. American Scientist
Warren Weaver explained this through ‘organised complexity’: a city is a complex network and
cannot be explained just by a mathematical model. Rather than focusing on individual bodies,
scientists should investigate the links between objects and how they are related and interact.
Jane Jacobs explained the idea of complexity and how the disorder in the old cities with
complex streets worked successfully in maintaining the city's freedom, security in the streets,
and the need for complex spaces. Dutch architect Rem Kohlaas proposed the term
‘programmable city’ to strip down the city into basic essential components necessary to thrive
and let the parts interact to form a complex city. With time, the whole city becomes more potent
than the sum of its parts.
A city is described as an ‘organic phenomenon’ by E.O Wilson, and Earth as a self-
organised structure by James Lovelock. The power of social networks is huge in a city where
people live, work, and engage with one another, fostering a sense of community and enabling
social ties. They foster creativity and innovation, benefiting from the exchange of ideas and
collaboration. Thus, a city must be a collection of complex spaces and chaotic streetscapes
where people interact with each other; businesses thrive in a happy neighbourhood. As the city
grows, so does its network and the city’s metabolism, per capita income increases, socio-
economic activity accelerates and together benefits all. Thus, “Social urbanism” forms the
city's fabric, and it is what makes the city. American sociologist Mark Granovetter, in his study,
highlighted the power of ‘weak links’ in finding a new job in the city. These weak ties hold the
megacity together. According to the ‘unified theory of urban living’, size is the primary
determinant of the character of the city. However, I feel that the characteristics of the cities
can't be merely generalised by their size as each city develops and evolves in its ways.