Discuss the claim that to understand any one citys fortunes fully it Essay

Discuss the claim that to understand any one citys fortunes fully it is necessary to follow the interconnections between cities - Essay Example The images of cities bring forth bustling streets, unending streams of vehicles, people jostling with each other for space and attention, faceless groups of people hurrying either to work or home, crowded markets and unruly by lanes, libraries, hospitals, hotels, museums, traffic, cathedrals and other religious places, skyscrapers and underground and on ground railways and more than anything else, lighting and brightness all over. We also notice that mostly people are lonely in the crowd, lost in their own thoughts and hurrying towards the next goal. Very rarely one could see the heartening sights of people walking companionably together in groups. Cities are not accidental happenings. They are created for a purpose, the result of a long and interesting evolution of the landscape. They must have started as the centres of a certain activity and with additional activities growing around it, they have formed into present cities. Cities do not spring up without reason. There always exist economical, social, geographical or historical reasons for their materialising from nowhere. They are the focussed places of social, cultural and geographical mass. They are the centres of many activities and had been the hubs of certain bustling, continuous activity for a long time, and hence, they have grown into cities. All of us have our own pleasant and unpleasant experiences of the cities. Intensity of urban life differs from place to place, from city to city. Every city differs from another if urban elements and social significance are taken into account. Cities could be awe-inspiring for a villager. A city could be romanticised, revered, mystified, or even feared. Every city has its own individuality. It has even its own skyline from which usually it is recognised. Famous cities have popular skylines, and their recognition is instantaneous. "From this perspective, city life is distinctive because its scale is larger and activities more intense than anywhere else," (p.6). Massey et al are of the opinion that smaller cities like Kuala Lumpur try to rival with bigger cities like New York by having impressive skyscrapers, even though skyscraper like announcements are unnecessary for a city. There are arguments that cities with impressive skyscrapers also have people begging on the streets and slums full of misery. Every city is not a planned city. Most of the cities are grown in a rather uncontrolled way adjusting itself to the geography and the main activity of the city. Some of these cities, though rather cumbersome, are a few of the most attractive cities in the world. City is a hub of activity and hence, centre of many connections and networks. These connections could be of any kind and mode; social, economical, cultural, religious, historical, political, commercial, business-oriented or even connected with tourism or transport. It could be connected with a port where goods are loaded and unloaded and around the activities of the port, a city could have been built. It could be connected with the movements of the army, navy or a business centre, famous for certain trade. It could be housing one of the major businesses and the city might have been built around this particular business. There are thousands and thousands of possibilities. Today, new cities are springing up on the ruins of