On Cities

I am intrigued by cities. From the first known settlements in the historical region of Mesopotamia, to the ancient giants of Rome, Tenochtitlan, and Chang’an, to the modern-day alpha cities of London and New York, cities have been fundamental building blocks of civilizations throughout human history. Trade junctions, market towns, cultural hubs, political centers, and many more functions were and are fulfilled by cities.

But cities are nothing without their networks of people—people who move there full of dreams. Dreams of better jobs, finding love, or gaining recognition and fame. Some dreams are accomplished, some dreams are forgotten, and some dreams are shattered.

Every city I visit evokes dreams in me too. I fantasize about my parallel lives, of fleeting glances and permanent loves, of routine days and unforgettable nights. Visiting cities feels like reading the past and future versions of oneself that have never and will never happen.

It’s these dreams and memories embedded within all cities of the world that I try to capture in the following texts. These are very personal and subjective writings, with no aspiration for completeness. The concept was inspired by a book called Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. If you have never read it, you are fortunate, as the pleasure of discovering it still lies ahead of you.

I dedicate the following texts, amateur in their lyrical qualities but honest in their message, to my dear uncle who gave me the book many years ago. Since then, I haven’t stopped dreaming in cities. I hope you won’t either.

Note: This document is a work in progress and might never be finished as I will keep appending my observations from time to time.

Buenos Aires, A Noble City

From Buenos Aires I will remember the daughter, mother, and grandmother, holding hands as they crossed the street. I will remember a young man reading Borges’s Ficciones and telling me about his love for the city. I will remember an old lady walking home in Palermo, evoking the magic of a city she has spent her entire life in.

Buenos Aires is a city where history looks after the present.

Sao Paolo, a Raw City

São Paulo is an exemplary city of that proverbial Latin American urbanization. It grew from around 2 million inhabitants in 1950 to over 11 million nowadays. And it doesn’t hide that—it’s a city proud of its growth. Tiny 19th and early 20th century houses are wedged between colossal apartment blocks that have sprouted to accommodate the influx of immigrant populations. The density of the apartment blocks is astounding. Only the omnipresent tropical flora makes this fact less explicit and allows one to walk comfortably in what would otherwise be a concrete heat dome. The diversity of the immigrant population is embedded in the identity of different neighborhoods, from Japanese and Italian to Jewish quarters. The culinary diversity is a nourished side-effect of this history. On the less bright side, the uncontrolled city expansion, as is very often the case, failed to thwart the simmering social inequalities. Homelessness and petty (but also major) crime is still part of everyday experience, now fully inscribed into the behavior of local residents.

São Paulo is a city crouching behind the obelisks of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. It’s a city waiting for its time to attack.

Granada, A City of Sunset

Granada is a city that doesn’t exist during the day. You can try to visit it, but you will only find a medieval fortress, a cathedral, and some historical (though not that unique) squares. You might be disappointed, hoping you would have spent the day at the nearby beaches of Costa del Sol. But I would advise you to stay a bit longer. Because once the sun starts falling from its majestic throne, only then does the city appear from the shadows on the walls and sidewalks. Only then should you sit down near the cathedral and relish the colors of life. Only then should you stroll around the Albaicín, to find peace under an orange tree. Only then does the city rise as beer and tapas are served to hungry locals and travelers, as clapping and dance take over its streets and squares. In the middle of the night, amid all this vivid life, the city again disappears into nothingness.

Granada is a city that lives off the blood of the sky.