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Second session - part b) poetic thoughts about cities

Chaired by: Hatto Fischer

 

Athens with view of Piraeus


Methodological consideration for the discussion:

The city as spiritual locality, as a place of freedom where experiences can be made; but then, what would be modern descriptions of the city? Likewise, what is the difference between metaphors and mythological attributes given to cities e.g. 'a micro world of ants'. When such analogies are used to describe overcrowding in cities, how does this affect man's self perception and what governs then the relationship between cities and its 'civitas'? If the city is considered as an utopian society, ever since Moses talked about 'the city of God', what has religion contributed towards making cities become viable communities on this globe? There are also reminders that cities crumble to pieces under the sheer weight of unresolved problems, or as depicted in the 'Tower of Babel' when aspiring to go too high i.e. beyond any natural proportions. What shall follow the industrial cities and the cities of the twenties century?

In search for sustainable cities, the usefulness of poetic observations as a kind of imaginary mapping of life in cities can be illustrated on hand of the poems by Voula Mega (research manager of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions).

There follow more questions out of such poetic observations:

 

Brendan Kennelly made the observation that modern cities have become a kind of ‘rur-urb’: neither rural nor completely urban, but something in-between so that the land loses a distinct character and therefore alters a sense of life.

There is as well the question by Paula Meehan whether cities can retain ‘wild’ or ‘untamed places' and if not self-understood, what can planners do to ensure these natural places are preserved?

To this can be added following two thematic questions to be put to the poets:

 

Hatto Fischer

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