The City is the Vessel

    Time is the variable that leads to change in every aspect of life. It can reform mountain ranges and rework waterways; time is powerful in this way. Humans, their thoughts, and physical expressions of thought, are also inevitably warped by the passing of time. Thoughts and ideas can be conveyed through different media--one being architecture. I define architecture here as the expression of thoughts and ideas through physical form. Collections of architecture, or cities, represent an array of thoughts and expressions through buildings that have accumulated over many years. 

    In a reading designated in one of my classes, the text contrasts numerous places from their ancient precedents to their contemporary beings. Art is recorded through structures and reveals trends in expression among regions, peoples, and time frames. Cities often formulate their unique patented atmosphere, showcasing their culture. This footprint will mold and change as time passes. Writer Italo Calvino illustrates the stories of historical places in his novel Invisible Cities. He notes how the marks and personalizations of a city may change at a rate across time, however, the perception of this change is likely different. 

    People, especially those with a foreign perspective, relate a place to its "postcard state". Calvino defines this as the typical picture-perfect capturing of a place that is assigned to it, most often from travelers or outsiders (p. 31). He continues to explain that some may be disappointed by the change of city for what it once was. Time comparison is disappointing and hopeless in this lens. Romanticizing past recollections to ignore the present state is to pass the beauty that will be romanticized in the future. Nostalgia is working to block the consideration of contemporary glory. City folk of past cities viewed their home in the same light. The glorified town of the past did not radiate with the light of nostalgia to the dwellers of that time as it does now. "[The city of] Maurilia cannot compensate for a certain lost grace, which, however, can be appreciated only now in the old postcards, whereas before, when that provincial Maurilia was before one's eyes, one saw absolutely nothing graceful and would see it even less today, if Maurilia had remained unchanged; and in any case the metropolis has the added attraction that, through what it has become, one can look back with nostalgia at what it was" (p. 30). In this explanation, Cavino highlights that change over time is the reason for this felt glorification of a place's past. Without time as a variable for change, humans would not experience art through architecture in such an emotionally nostalgic way. 

    Changing trends in architecture show the progression of ideas and expression. The variation allows us, as people who experience architecture, to reminisce on what once was. This text prompts all to embrace the present state of architecture and enjoy its beauty. Architecture will continue to develop to form new appearances and new experiences. To acknowledge the present state of a surrounding is to truly live in the future "postcard state". 

Works Cited:

Calvino, I. (1972). Invisible Cities (pp. 30-31). Giulio Einaudi Editore.

sic024, about 1960. (n.d.). In Italy Heritage. Retrieved September 10, 2024, from https://www.italyheritage.com/regions/cards/sicilia/013_024.htm.

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