Urban sprawl, roads choked at rush hour, motorways swamped by lorries, are everyday phenomena. Capitalism in its current form, built around the detached house and the car, around just-in-time distribution and the free movement of merchandise, has also globalised the city. The watchword of modernity, mobility (of things, capital, even people), has superseded all other considerations. Everything must move all the time. This generates gigantic infrastructure projects that turn the city upside down, transforming it into a thoroughfare. Have the architects of this frenzy forgotten that cities are also home to people who want a peaceful life?
in the time remaining, to help us understand how the man-made system of capitalism will lead to the extinction of our human species, and so many others.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Antwerp’s Ring cycle
from Le Monde Diplomatique. The article looks at the effects of globalization on city habitat by focusing on Antwerp, Belgium.