ABSTRACT
In recent decades much has been written about the different manifestations of the “unfolded” city, where the boundaries no longer coincide with the historical territorial confines. In his recent work about the post-metropolis Los Angeles, Edward Soja stylizes the dominant discourses about the contemporary dilemmas facing major cities (Soja 1996 and 2000). He presents the following metaphors:
the Cosmopolis: a major city that relies on international networks and connections;
the Exopolis: an inner city abandoned by the white middle-class;
the Carceral Archipelago: a city fragmented by the privatization of space and inaccessible to large segments of the population;
the Simcity: a metropolis that has lost its identity and has become unrecognizable by emulating alien and non-historical examples.
