ABSTRACT
Twice now already, we have referred to ‘possibilities’ and ‘problems’ together. And that characteristic of double-sidedness is one of the things we do know about cities. On the ‘possibility’ side, there is the city as the apex of civilization, the birthplace of citizenship, the City on the Hill. On the ‘problem’ side, there is the city of poverty, mayhem and threat; the bursting of the bounds of social control. On the one hand, cities are the crucibles of the new, places of mixing and the creation of new identities; they are the cradles of new ideas. On the other hand, that very process of the coming together of different peoples can create conflict, intolerance and violence. These contrasting images of the city overlap and play off one another, perhaps because the city comprises so many worlds. Taking these contrasts together, it would appear that the city is nothing if not ambiguous. This ambiguity-the coexistence of, and tension between, possibilities and problemsruns throughout both this book and the series as a whole. Indeed, it is perhaps this very dynamic ambiguity which is behind the fact that, so often throughout history, cities have been at the forefront of social change. The question, of course, is what kind of social change. Because of the increasing size of cities, and the numbers of people involved, the question has never been more important.
