The first person to attempt urban sociology, Simmel 1903.
He lectures on the role of the intellectual life in the city but instead reverses the idea and writes about the effect of the city on the indevidual. At the same time Freud was developing his ideas on identity, influenced heavily by Freud.
The idea of an urban environment and how to live in it was a new idea. Things as simple as crossing roads had to be learned and the whole concept of society in an urban setting was just developing (1932).
Louis Sullivun- Architecture clearly dictates the functionality of society in an urban environment. The devision of space creates and dictates the flow of people and informs the structure of society. Carson Pririe Scott (1904 store in chicago) Skyscrapers were just making a headway, the idea of high relating to social status formed a basis for social structures.
The Silent Film By Charles Strand - Shows the city as an environment that allowed people to integrate and relate to transport and the buildings.
Charles Sheeler- Ford Motor Company's plant (1927) The photography are separated and detached from the grand result of the industry. The theory of Fordism identifies that the workers in these temples of industry only earn enough money to buy the products which they are helping to makes.
Stock market crash (1929)
factories close and unemployment is rife. The city stops being a place where opportunity is fostered.
The Man with the Movie camera-
Celebration of machinery and the camera man himself is the hero in this scenario.
Flaneur
means to stroll or saunter through the city.
Charles Baudelaire defines them as an observer of the city to gather information for intellectual entertainment in a way that makes them exterior to the society they observe.
Walter Benjamin
Looks at the temples to consumerism that start to rise up out of the huge amount of production.
The definition of the city photographer could be seen as a flaneur because they are both watching the city and part of it.
Flaneuse
A female version of the flaneur, the invisable woman that view the city. However, arguably the women of the time would not be out in society on their own. Susan Buck-Morris looks at the fact that in art and photography the only woman represented to be on the street is the prostitute or the 'bag lady'.
Sophie Calle Suite Venitienne (1980)
Following people in the street specifically venice. The architecture in venice makes the perfect environment for following with its winding streets and nocks.
Cindy Sherman (1977) film stills
The shots use the architecture of the city threatening the woman, the posibility that the buildings themselves have a masculine presence because they represent the achievements of man, not women.
Weegee (Arthur Felig)
Documentary photography. Perusing the darker side of the city and the violence and murders that form part of the white noise of the city environment.
The idea of the futuristic city is explored in the film Metropolis. However, it is hard to imagine the future accurately, in reality it is a mesh of predictions and history.. This can also be seen in Blade Runner.
The concept of the Postmodern City Ed Soja
Creating spaces that confuse and disorient people. The only way you can find your way is to become submissive in this commercial space. This can be related to any city space, being made to behave a certain way that then influences you internal identity and ideal self.
With the advances in technology, people have become their own journalists. 9 11 is an example of this. All footage was gathered by people involved in the event because of the sheer sze of it. This signs the death nell of the concept of the flaneur because people are inherently aprt of the city.
Surveillance City "we now seek machines to look at pictures on our behalf."
The main things that really grabbed my attention during this lecture was firstly the theory of the cyclical nature of large scale industrialism. the way that the poor are kept poor by paying them only enough to buy the products that they are producing. This combined with the definitly human aesthetic of the industrial setting has all negative connotations to me. This is strange because my own personal experience of cities has predominantly been positive but they always have negative connotations of dirt and poverty.
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