city pod

Cities are now home to over 50% of the global population. They have always been busy and vibrant, but there are flaws beneath the surface. Lily Allen's song, London, highlights the indifference of city dwellers. However, cities are complex, fragmented, and fast-paced, unlike rural life. They are diverse and foster discussions and debates. Cities will continue to grow and be important globally. Cities are home to over 50% of our global population, something that we have never seen before. Since early ancient Greek times until now, cities have been full of hustle and bustle, noise and sights, smells and tastes, and something for everyone. I am now going to play an excerpt from Lily Allen's song, London. Lily Allen here is emphasising that although city life may appear euphoric at a surface level, when thought about more deeply, really there are many flaws. Simmel talks about the blasé attitudes of city dwellers, where they feel they need to detach from their environment in order to overcome the consensual stimuli and cope with the world around them. Saying that everything looks fine implies that there really is nothing special what's happening in the city, as to be blasé is to be indifferent about something. But really Allen is arguing quite the opposite, and these ideas of the city and city living are quite complex. Cities are fragmented and fast-paced, contrasting that of rural life. It's not all sunshine and rainbows like you may see on the TV. Cities also foster a diverse group of people. Diversity is key to the success of a city, like Aristotle argued, but not only in humans but also architecture. It helps produce discussions and debate from having different points of views and different spaces to share these views. Cities will be ever-growing and important to us globally. Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoyed.