ON CITIES (I). A collage of notes.

Some 4000-3000 BC the revolutionary idea of city appeared in Mesopotamia.

Some 2000-1000 BC there were already cities in the mediterranean area.

Just some 1000-1200 AC appeared cities in North Europe.

Primary sector. Artisans. Discreet size.

We have to wait until 1700 AC, the beginning of the Industrial Revolution) to find the emergence of the secondary sector and the radical change in dimensions. Big cities. Hygiene problems. Insalubrity.

With the modernity, around 1900, the tertiary sector come into play. The rationalist city (geometric, formalist) is born in North Europe. Progressive. Functional.

There was probably a second movement: the modern city in USA. A scale change.

After the WWII new huge metropolitan areas grew all over the world.

An exponential growth of mobility. And a new revolution: the technologies of information. The tertiary sector rise.

What's next? What is the future's city?

A version of a public, sustainable,(Mediterranean) city?

Complex, fractal, walkable, breathable, compact, continuous, livable?

A version of a domestic, segregated, (Nordic) city?

Complicated, discontinued, car & consumption orientated, functional, suburban?

The game, once again, is in the public space.

Uses, persons, images.