--{ cities, spaces, and you }------
I've always found cities and living spaces fascinating. But lately, I've found how people feel about cities and living spaces to be just as fascinating, if not even more so.
What I'm particularly enthralled by is how strongly some people feel about certain cities, Their cities. By "Their cities," I don't mean the cities they grew up in, not necessarily. I mean the cities that they choose to make their own. One thing I've learned, by spending this year back home in Memphis, is that Memphis is not really My city. It's the city I grew up in, sure, but I've realized it's not the city that's me, that meshes with who I think I am. There's the having-to-drive, thing, for instance, and how I don't.
But I'm not writing about what city is my city here. I'm writing about what cities are other people's cities. And how they decide that a city is their city. Why do some people drift to Seattle, and others to New York? Why do some people prefer LA, or Chicago, or Philly? And why do others want to return to Nebraska, but can't?
I'm also writing about how people feel about their relationship with their cities. Some people disparage all cities that are not their own. Other people (often many of the same people) get weird and defensive when other cities get praised.
And, at first, I found this annoying. I found it annoying when other people did it, and found it annoying that I do it occasionally as well. Why aren't cities just cities? I thought.
But then I decided that I'm actually kind of happy with that. Or at least some of the implications of that kind of behavior. I like it when people personalize their space. It's not about a city or space being better than another. It's about a person being more compatible with one city or space than another. I kind of like it when cities and spaces have individualized identities formed from certain people choosing to move there and certain people choosing to move out.1 It's certainly a lot better than every city being the same.
Anyway, I dunno, that's what I've been thinking now. What do you think?
020901
1. There problems with this, I know, involving the assumption that people can move. Because not everyone can. Stuff like that. I've touched on this before, yeah.