Postmodern City Texts:

1. Postmodern City Texts: Toronto, Montreal and Taipei Introduction 2007/3/1

2. Outline • Starting Questions • City: Definitions • 1. Dictionary Definition (and that of Urban Design) • 2. Cultural Definition • 3. In Historical Perspective: Modern City & Postmodern City • 4. Examples: Toronto, Montreal and Taipei • How do we read a city? • A Cultural Example • The Course’s Purposes (See Handout) • Assignments for Next Week

3. Starting Questions • What is a city? What makes its cultural productions interesting? • How does a city develop? What are the differences between modern and postmodern cities? • Anything interesting about Toronto, Montreal and Taipei? Any issues theyshare as postmodern cities?

4. Defining a City • 1. Dictionary (Physical) Definition & in terms of Urban Design • 2. Cultural Definition: Aspects and Contradictions of a City: The visible vs. the invisible, the planned vs. the lived, the physical vs. the mental. • 3. In Historical Perspective: • Modern City • Postmodern City • 4. Examples: Toronto, Montreal and Taipei

5. What is a City? • Dictionary (physical) definitions: • A large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts; • Population + administrative unit + center of economic and cultural/spiritual activities. • e.g. Athen, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Pergamon(an ancient Greek city, 16 miles inland from the Aegean Sea) Rome, Teotihuacan (in the present Mexico). • Related Terms: city vs. town, urbanization, city – traditional vs. modern (城市、都市), metropolis （都會）, megacity, megapolis

6. What is a City? (1-2) Urban Design -- Two kinds of city development: organic city and planned city. Video e.g. 1. two kinds (LA; cities for imperial leaders), 2. New York  how about Taipei, Montreal and Toronto?

7. Taipei • Taipei – organic city; • Harbors market streets: 八里 新莊 艋岬 基隆 • 1884－台北城 • 1895－Japanese control • 1967 – 院轄市；1994－民選市長 城內（中山南路、中華路、愛國西路與忠孝西路所圍的）、艋舺、大稻埕  忠孝東路  東區

9. Toronto and GTA Toronto – more a planned city, starting with 10 geometric blocks cleared from the edge of a forest in 1773.

10. Toronto Main street– Yonge St.

11. Montreal City and MMC • Croissant shape – its East and West are actually North and South.

12. Montreal: an Island city like New York

13. Human Achievements and Inventions in the Cities • "Now the people in the city have something to teach me, but the fields and the trees won't teach me anything." (Plato) • e.g. water transportation system (aqueduct), concrete & architecture, road, urban design, fire engine, toilet flush, etc • Video examples: 1. water, 2. Roman’s toilet habit.

14. A City (2): the visible vs. the invisible; the physical vs. the mental & social • -- Marc Blanchard: "the city is in the streets, viewed and experienced through the eyes and the gestures of a passer-by" (qut in Zhang xv-xvi) city visions; -- Zhang [following Robert Park]: "This city . . . more than just a physical structure.  It is, among other things, a state of mind, an order of morality, a pattern of attitudes and ritualized behavior, a network of human connections, and a body of customs and traditions inscribed in certain practices and discourses"(Zhang 3-4).

15. What is a City? (2) • Sociological View: A city succeeds when it balances needs for sacredness, security, and commerce. (Kotkin) • E.g. Understanding Cities 1 • Cities attract people who want a better life; • Cities are the essence of us all; they are the vortex of all human activities and inventions; • They are unpredictable; they respond to changes and develop on the basis of their own histories.

16. What is a City? (2) • What bring people to a city? For work – the job opportunities provided by industrialism and technological improvements. special rhythm and pace, convenience, fast flows of information, capital, commodities and people.

17. What is a City? (3) • What bring people to a city? • For work, security and a better life? A city is filled with contradictions: order chaos (crimes, the unpredictable); civilization barbarous crimes the organized & systematized the unpredictable & irregular

18. What is a City? (3): Historical Perspectives Traditional City  Industrial City  Modern City (Metropolis)  Postmodern (Postcolonial) City • Industrialism  Rapid urbanization: • e.g. 1850 – 2 "million cities“’; 1990 -- 286 "million cities.“ (source)

19. What is a Modern City or Metropolis? • Population – over 100,000 • Average distribution rate of the year 2000 (%) Urban Rural China  32  68  Hong Kong 100  0  Japan  79  21 Rwanda 6  94   USA 77  23  Canada  77 23 台灣 1985年-- 78.6% 台北 -- 2001/8 -- 2,626,811

20. Urbanization -- 2001年

21. Industrial to Modern City • The City in three phases since the 19 century: • 1st – emergence of industrial city --> serious social problems and environmental problems. (e.g. Dickens’ and Blake’s London) • 2nd – Modern city: utopian city, or a split between the spectacular metropolitan centers, declining downtown and spreading suburbs (2 Brasilia)

22. Postmodern City: Some Issues • 3rd – Postmodern city: • 1. globalization(全球化), (globalizing capital) -- increasing fragmentation and assimilation by global culture; Mega city and Inner City (Merger vs. demerger) • 2. gentrification(土地增值; East Area in Taipei), ghettoization(陋巷區隔)  discrepancy between the rich and the poor, • 3. Pluralism (1) diversification of regions and their functions, manufacturing sites reinvented as tourist destinations (e.g. Taipei?)

23. characteristics of postmodern city (2) service over manufacturing • Pluralism (2): spectacular and multi-functional sites of consumption, architectural pastiche & restoration (e.g. Berlin’s parliament building;) • Pluralism (3): The new underclasses (immigrants) in the urban centers • The future of cities? Part of service industries move to the outskirts; a mega mall (cultural, entertainment and shopping center) (ref. Kotkin) • Ref. Panoramic view of Berlin from the Parliament

24. Der Reichstag: the German Parliament Renaissance-Style Exterior, with a new dome and modern-style interior

25. Taipei, Montreal and Toronto • Similarities: Experience colonization; issue of national identity; subway; • Differences: density of population; different types of plurality, …

26. Toronto, Montreal and Taipei Source: http://www.moi.gov.tw/W3/stat/home.asp內政部統計資訊網

27. Toronto, Montreal and Taipei As Global Cities: (12 points: London, New York, Paris, Tokyo) • Toronto – 9 points • Taipei – 6 points • Montreal – 5 points

28. Toronto’s development • During the Wars -- [小鎮](Toronto the Good and the Grey) --平靜整齊 • Modern period -- 1950’s至60’s年間，多倫多快速成長為加拿大第一個城市，居民遽增一倍（由125萬到將近300萬），城市建築規劃採現代模式（規律、國際式、反歷史），並建造大型公寓區（如St. Jamestown, Regent Park和Alexandra Park）將都市郊區化（Caulfield 5-60; Callaghan Introd.）。同一時期，加勒比海移民有限度移入，以女僕和學生為主，出現在Bloor、Bathust等街和多倫多大學校區。    • Postmodern period-- 1970’s至1980’s間，多倫多在城市改革者（urban reformists）、投資者、中產階級居民以及一些邊緣團體（如藝術家、同性戀團體和華裔團體）影響下，發展為一個多元的後現代大都會。

29. Toronto’s postmodern features • １．經濟上，去工業化，由服務業和商店取代﹔ ２· 建築上，保留並維修古老建築（包括舊市街如Yonge街、華埠、羅馬式建築的Richardsonian Romanesque舊市政府及許多維多利亞式的住屋）﹔新型建築物仿古（如許多購物中心仿傳統市場或維多利亞式建築），或與古蹟在形式和建材上銜接（如Eaton Center與Church of Holy Trinity﹔Caulfield 97-123）﹔ ３·在人口上，大量中產階級由郊區住回市區（或稱gentrification）。 (e.g. College St.—a very colorful area)

30. About Montreal (from Montreal retro) • mais une metropole qui a une personnalite bien a elle • 每個大都會都有自己的獨特個性… • c’est rome la ville eternelle, 羅馬，永恆的城市, alger la blanche • 阿爾及爾，白色城市, paris la ville lumineuse, 巴黎，閃耀的城市, newyork et ses gratte-ciel, 紐約，摩天樓 • et montreal, c’est la ville aux 2 visages • 蒙特婁，雙面城市 • la cite parle • 整座城市說著話 • la cite travaille et s’amuse • 整座城市工作，娛樂 • la cite s’allume et s’eteint en 2 langues • 整座城市以兩種語言活躍或是沈寂

31. History: Montreal & Quebec • 1759 -- the battle of Quebec • 1774 --英國為了勸誘法語區不要加入美國獨立革命，賦與英屬法語區若干民政權及宗教權。 • 1840 --境內百分之六十為法語人口，但加拿大聯邦以英語為唯一官方語言。 • 1960 --Quiet Revolution • 1967 – World Expo • 1988 -- 178 Act 強制境內商業招牌一律使用法文 (to ride over a Supreme Court ruling) • Referendum: (since 1980 40% yes) recently in 1993; 1995 –(51% no and 49% yes)

32. Immigrant/Total Population in North American cities 多倫多 溫哥華 邁阿密 加拿大 蒙 紐約 statistics

33. Immigrant Population in North American cities • In 1996 immigrants represented 17.4% of Canada’s population. Across the Toronto CMA (Census Metropolitan Area),immigrants comprised 42% of the population, while in the amagamated City of Toronto 47.6% were foreign-born. • The Vancouver CMA -- 35% are immigrants • Montreal CMA -- 18% immigrants • in the States • Miami 33.6% • New York 19.7% (Siemiatycki 75)

34. Taipei/Taiwan • 1977 -- Twelve Major Constructions started. • 1984 -- the investment of MacDonald's • 1987 -- the lifting of Martial Law (7/15)  • 1994 -- 年恢復市長民選 • West-Gate – a mixture of Local, American and Japanese cultures.

35. Taipei/Taiwan’s ethnic plurality • Taiwan: 92/3 年統計，外僑人數56246; 全國 91 年取得國籍 1533 • 2002, 12.5% newborn babies were by foreign brides. • Taipei (2003—1728 brides), the third highest no. of foreign brides.

36. How to Read a City –targets • Cultural representation of cities (films, photographies, songs, literature); • Documentaries on one of the world cities;(e.g.《城市的遠見》, City Cabs, Six Degrees, Chasing Time in a City, etc.) • The social phenomena of a region we observe(e.g. of youngsters’ consumption habits at West-Gate; changes of the East Area of Taipei) • The signs of an urban space. (e.g. The elements of a city: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks + people + architecture and spatial decorations) 

37. The signs of an urban space. No overall design

38. The signs of an urban space (2). Ambiguous gender identities

39. The signs of an urban space (3). Mutual Gaze of the Controlled and Controlling

40. How to Read a City –Questions 1. (In analyzing urban planning and a cultural representation of a city or urban spaces) -- what does "the producer" try to say and 'how'? Is there a way to disobey authorities’ orders without being punished? -- Do cultural representations change the cities’ “realities”? 2. (In analyzing less organized texts such as what we observed and the documentaries) -- What are the characteristics of your chosen city? How is it different from Taipei? (Do not just generalize; give concrete examples.) -- What types of city dwellers have you seen? Do you expect to meet the same people here in Taipei? -- What are the major factors of the environment which shape the life styles of the city dwellers you have seen/observed: history, power relations, capitalism, etc.?

41. How to Read a City –Topics • History -- Read how it is influenced by history or oblivious of history (e.g. 超級大國民) • Concept City vs. Lived City • Postmodern features: -- globalization, ghetto-ization, gentrification; -- electronic network and flows (e.g. Polygraph 1, 2, 16 Happy Together 1, 2); -- commodification of space; chance encounters and interconnectedness (example: next page)

42. An Example: When the Day Breaks • Gender difference • Chance encounter and accidents • The pig’s responses: • Sympathize by trying to imagine the chicken’s history; • Escape; • Re-connected with society How are we connected in a city? Recurrent images:cells, eating, lemon, lines (veins, water pipes, drainage, electric wires, subway tunnels, radio/TV antenna, hole) , darkness and brightness.

43. Assignments for Next Week • Watch 2 videos – “Taipei, Taipei” “The Canvas of Time” • Read – “Urbanism as a Way of Life” • ref. those by 詹宏志“Toronto: The Meeting Place” “Between the Solitudes” • Leave a message about either ‘The Taipei I know,’ “The Montreal I know’ or “The Toronto I know.’

44. References • Discovery Programs: Understanding Cities; City Life • Zhang, Yingjin.  The City in Modern Chinese Literature and Film.  Standord, CA: Standford UP, 1996. • "Toronto Key Facts." http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/ourcity/keyfacts.htm • "T`ai-pei t`u-ti jen-k`ou kai-k`uang [The Land and Population of Taipei: General Introduction]." http://www.dbas.taipei.gov.tw/stat/express/ • 《城市的歷史》． 喬爾.克特金(Joel Kotkin)．謝佩妏譯 台北: 左岸文化，2006.