His theory explained how people are impacted by the city and with the influx of change. Many people chose to move to the city from their rural homes in search for work. The urban environment was a completely new idea to these people and the city changed how they lived their lives.
The creator of the modern skyscraper which focuses on the idea of function over form. Serving its purpose in proving large amounts of rooms in a small floor space. However the function of the building doesn't completely destroy its beauty and form because at the front of the building it is beautifully crafted.
The film shows the idea of how America was built from immigration of people moving to the cities. The short silent film contains poetry from Whalt Whitmans and the film as a whole aims to show the film makers love for New York.
The theory suggests that companies wanted to gain maximum productivity for minimum effort through mechanical action such as a production line. Which forms as being mass production and mass consumption by society. The workers would earn enough so they could then themselves be able to afford the products they are producing which as a ford car was quite inexpensive.
This quote suggests that the machine and man merge into one and one could not be possible without the other as the machine makes use of the man controlling it and being part of the production.
The stock market crash in 1929 meant that the city was no longer a place of happiness and employment but leads itself to the great depression.
This image in particular shows the juxtaposition of reality at the time where America was viewed as being the family in the advertisement as rich, white middle class and carefree/ rich. However this contrasts completely with the reality of the working class below who are queuing for a food bank as they cannot find work.
Baudelaire suggests that artists are a version of the flâeur as they view the city from their own perspective and voyeuristically watch the city.
The photographer captures a recording of city life especially with street and documentary photography. Although it is question within documentary photography how much is a true representation of what has happened and what has been set up and framed by the photographer.
One of the interesting aspects was that of the Here is New York exhibition, although the disaster of 9/11 was absolutely horrific it did bring one positive aspect and that was the idea of community. The book and exhibition showcase the events through photographs from ordinary people rather than photographers which definitely heighten the rawness of the disaster as it unfolds. The destruction of the twin towers is seen as a destruction of the American dream as discussed earlier, the city is seen as a positive environment of a new life and employment.
Overall from looking at the theories connected to the city the overall aura is that the city is a negative place which fuels consumption and industrialisation including companies and factory work which keeps the poorest of society poor, which is still true today. What I did find interesting though is the idea of picture making by the public which can help with cities and disaster situations it means that people can take their own photographs and document their take on the city which means this is not just done by photographers and allows for a somewhat democratic view of the city. As previously when looking at the past it was only photographers who could afford cameras and therefore imagery was biased.
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