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Looking for a City in America: Down These Mean Streets a Man Must Go
In his richly perceptive essay, Corboz takes to task previous European analyses of the American city which, he suggests, are little more than reflections of their own old-world bad faith. Using post-modern Los Angeles―the L.A. of contemporary cultural theorists Frederic Jameson and Mike Davis―as the terrain upon which his argument advances, he makes the case for a new city without a center yet united by what he sees as a typically American gregarious individualism.
128 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1992
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February 21, 2011
Fantastic shots of Los Angeles by Dennis Keeley paired with a short but power-packed essay on modern urbanism by André Corboz, a frenchman attempting to set straight European criticisms of the American built environment.
Corboz's piece was originally published in a Parisian journal, and his concerns are appropriate to the setting. Though he does not advocate the sprawling spaces of American urban fabric, he makes a point to understand them—something that he claims, rightfully so, that previous critics have only professed to do. He walks the walk, too, which is presumably why the Getty saw it fit to publish. His insights focus not only on the particular nature of the U.S.'s urban fabric, but also insightfully discusses the American mentality that gave the country its shape (as opposed to the European-applied stereotypes: multi-faceted, non-nomadic, strong feeling of regional identity, individualism that does not exclude community).
The two most interesting points brought up by the work, in my mind, are that 1) American cities should not and cannot be held to the same standards of development as existing European cities (i.e. a single, dense, and pedestrian-oriented center; circular rather than orthogonally-planned growth; clear boundaries between town and country, etc.), and 2) European cities themselves are intrinsically outdated—they cling to tradition rather than adapting to confront present realities (transport, industry, etc.).
Although the essay is short and sweet, it sets out exactly what it means to do, and where the essay is most poignant is in this consideration of the American cities, and not in its assessment of Europe's own problems. My only complaint / frustration with the work is its tendency to glorify America's sprawl, a fact that Corboz addresses multiple times throughout the text, stressing that he is not advocating the US's form of development but instead leveling the field; however, it is easy enough to find a critique of the same elsewhere.
Corboz's piece was originally published in a Parisian journal, and his concerns are appropriate to the setting. Though he does not advocate the sprawling spaces of American urban fabric, he makes a point to understand them—something that he claims, rightfully so, that previous critics have only professed to do. He walks the walk, too, which is presumably why the Getty saw it fit to publish. His insights focus not only on the particular nature of the U.S.'s urban fabric, but also insightfully discusses the American mentality that gave the country its shape (as opposed to the European-applied stereotypes: multi-faceted, non-nomadic, strong feeling of regional identity, individualism that does not exclude community).
The two most interesting points brought up by the work, in my mind, are that 1) American cities should not and cannot be held to the same standards of development as existing European cities (i.e. a single, dense, and pedestrian-oriented center; circular rather than orthogonally-planned growth; clear boundaries between town and country, etc.), and 2) European cities themselves are intrinsically outdated—they cling to tradition rather than adapting to confront present realities (transport, industry, etc.).
Although the essay is short and sweet, it sets out exactly what it means to do, and where the essay is most poignant is in this consideration of the American cities, and not in its assessment of Europe's own problems. My only complaint / frustration with the work is its tendency to glorify America's sprawl, a fact that Corboz addresses multiple times throughout the text, stressing that he is not advocating the US's form of development but instead leveling the field; however, it is easy enough to find a critique of the same elsewhere.
Displaying 1 of 1 review