ABSTRACT
Simmel’s seminal essay (“Die Grossstätde und das Geistesleben”) was originally delivered as a lecture within a series during the winter of 1902–03 connected to an exhibition held in Dresden by the Gehe Foundation on the emergence of the modern metropolis. This First German City Exhibit (Erste Deutsche Städte-Ausstellung) was following upon the 1896 Berlin Trade Exhibition, part of a historical vogue in world city expositions, such as those held in Paris in 1886 and Chicago in 1893. The lectures and exhibits examined the intellectual, economic, and political dimensions of German urbanism, and addressed planning problems and social issues related to public transportation, housing, employment, health, welfare, and cultural institutions. Simmel’s essay focused more upon the philosophical and psychological implications of these transitions. Simmel was interested in the social construction of the modern urban self.
