My Imaginary City

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My “imaginary” city. The utility I would suggest it as an ideal imaginary city as close as conceivable to Eco City, despite the fact that there are a few contrasts. For instance, because of force interest, I suggest that the city have a photovoltaic force station, however in such frantic occasions, energy will come from close by towns and other force plants in the state It is bought from. To give spotless and solid water to residents and sightseers, we need to carry out water purging plants and sewage treatment plants.

To forestall flooding, the city was based on the floodplain. The occupants of my city altogether are decent having wonderful and obliging auras. We esteem our city significantly because of the reality we have individuals who esteem others, who have a sensation of stress, empathy, compassion or respect for other people. We have fellowships and comprehension between individuals with various societies, races customs and practices, we as a whole love to be joined together and to live in harmony and fraternity. There is no inclination of aggression, contempt and envy. Everybody appears to want for bliss for other people.

The main part of my ideal city is the appropriate arrangement of turnpikes, metros, walkways for shipping people in general all through the city. The expressway will give public vehicle to individuals living external the city, like neighborhoods, however it likewise permits maneuvers and transports to ship people in general inside the city. Since the parkway is open and it is intended to interface public transportation all through the city, traffic can stream proficiently and securely. The second is the tram generally utilized for city trips. The tram needs to interface with the website architecture of the city’s base and rapidly transport countless individuals starting with one webpage then onto the next website. It should give modest and dependable opportunity to home and day by day clients. At last, the walkways are generally utilized in open transportation, so they are intended to be protected and swarmed. The walkway is corresponding to every one of the streets in the city and gives a protected spot.

As far as I might be concerned, America has consistently been a spot to acknowledge and empower variety. It is a variety of foundations, viewpoints, and ways of life. New York city tram, I went through six years there (the city, not the metro) is consistently a genuine model: regardless of whether you are an attendant or broker, whether you live in Gramercy Park or Harlem, dark or white, homosexuality A man or a straight man, you are a New Yorker *. Your circumstance is not the same as different circumstances when you are on the tram.

It started and I looked for the best spot to live. My best option is Valencia (Spain). I have been there a few times and I truly like every one of the attractions in the city. In any case, this time, I won’t be protected and agreeable. This time it will be striking. Eventually, Valencia will be there as long as I need it. However, Bansko additionally shows that he is a great town. Climbing, paragliding, and so on, and above all, is the spot to call home. Basically for some time

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How to Write About a Fictional City

Last Updated: October 5, 2022 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Stephanie Wong Ken, MFA . Stephanie Wong Ken is a writer based in Canada. Stephanie's writing has appeared in Joyland, Catapult, Pithead Chapel, Cosmonaut's Avenue, and other publications. She holds an MFA in Fiction and Creative Writing from Portland State University. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 96,704 times.

Writing about a fictional city can be a difficult challenge. We all know that real cities are sections of land with a population. But in order to create a fictional city and use it in a story, you will need to access your imagination and focus on the details of the city to get it right.

Looking at Examples of Fictional Cities

Step 1 Read several examples of fictional cities.

  • The fictional city of Basin City or Sin City in Frank Miller’s Sin City .
  • The fictional city of King’s Landing in George R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones .
  • The fictional city of Oz (The Emerald City) in L.Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz .
  • The fictional city of The Shire in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit .

Step 2 Analyze the examples.

  • Most fictional cities are described using a map drawn by the author or by an illustrator working with the author. Examine the maps provided of the fictional cities and notice the level of detail that is put into the maps. For example, the map provided in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit includes the names of places in the language of the novel as well as major landmarks and structures in the fictional area.
  • Look at the naming of the areas or streets in the fictional city. The names in a fictional city can carry a lot of importance, as the names come to symbolize certain aspects of the world of the book. For example, the naming of “Sin City” in Frank Miller’s Sin City graphic novels indicates that the area is known for its sinful inhabitants. The name tells the reader something about the area and what to expect from the characters that live in the area.
  • Note how the author describes the city. Does she use certain descriptions to characterize the city? In The Game of Thrones by George R. Martin, for example, King’s Landing is described as dirty and smelly, but it is also the seat of the throne. These descriptions create an interesting contrast for the reader.

Step 3 Be aware of the pros and cons of using a fictional city instead of a real city.

  • Creating a fictional city will also allow you to use elements of a real city you know well, such as your hometown, and twist them around so they become fictional. If you are very familiar and comfortable in a certain real-life area, you can then use what you know and change them slightly to create a fictional world.
  • Creating a fictional city will also improve your writing overall, as the more believable your city is in your book, the more believable the world of your book will be to readers. Making a convincing fictional city will strengthen your characters as well, as you can shape the city to fit with the actions and perspectives of your characters.

Step 4 Consider basing your fictional city on a real city.

Creating the Basics of the Fictional City

Step 1 Determine the name of the city.

  • You may choose a name that feels generic and sort of “every small town” if you want your story to have a more universal feel to it. A name like Milton or Abbsortford, for example, does not tell readers too much about the town other than it is likely small and in North America. Avoid using a name like Springfield, as this immediately makes readers think of The Simpsons, which may not fit with your story.
  • Consider a name that fits the region or area where your fictional city is located. If your city is located in Germany, for example, you may select a German name or a German term that could also function as a name. If your city is located in Canada, you may select a Canadian city that exists and change the name slightly to create a fictional name.
  • Avoid names that seem obvious, such as Vengeance or Hell, as the reader will be alerted right away to the meaning behind the name. The use of obvious names can be effective if the town acts in contrast to the name. For example, a town named Hell that has the nicest, most pleasant townspeople.

Step 2 Create a historical record of the city.

  • Who founded the city? This could be a lone explorer who stumbled on the land or Native peoples who built up the city piece by piece using basic tools. Think about the individual or individuals responsible for founding the city.
  • When was the city founded? This can help you get a better sense of the development of the city, as a city founded 100 years ago will have a denser history than a city founded 15 years ago.
  • Why was the city founded? Answering this question can help you better describe the city’s past. Maybe the city was founded through colonization, where a foreign explorer claimed the land and colonized it. Or maybe the city was founded by people who discovered empty land and built it up on their own. The reasons for the city’s existence will help you get a better sense of your characters, as they may have personal ties and connections to the city due to how the city was founded and why it was founded.
  • How old is the city? The age of the city is another important element. An older city may have city planning details that have been preserved, while a newer city may have very few old buildings and an experimental approach to city planning.

Step 3 Describe the landscape and climate of the city.

  • You should also think about the climate of the city. Is it hot and humid or cold and dry? The climate may also depend on the time of year when your story is taking place. If your story takes place in the middle of winter in a fictional town located in Northern California, for example, it may be warm during the day and cooler at night.

Step 4 Note the demographics of the city.

  • Consider the racial and ethnic groups in your city. Are there more African American individuals than Latinos or Caucasians? Do certain ethnic groups live in certain areas of the city? Are there areas where certain ethnic groups are not allowed or feel uncomfortable being in?
  • Think about the class dynamics in your city. This could mean a character who is middle-class lives in a certain area of the city and a character of an upper class lives in a more lavish or expensive area of the city. Your fictional city may be divided by class, with certain areas off-limits to all classes except for one class.

Step 5 Draw a map of the city.

  • You may also notate landscape details, like a mountain range that borders the city or sand dunes that protect the city from the outside. Try to add as many details as possible, as this will help you build a more convincing fictional world.
  • If you have a friend who is talented at illustration, you may ask them to help you draw a map of the city in more detail. You can also use online resources to help you build the map. Use a program like Photoshop, for example, to cut and paste images from the internet to create a map or a physical representation of the city.

Adding the Specifics of the Fictional City

Step 1 Determine what makes the fictional city unique.

  • You should also think about what the town is known for, according to the outside world. Maybe the city is known as the center of commerce or has one of the most renowned sports teams.
  • Consider what locals love or enjoy about the city, as this will make it feel more unique. What are the hotspots and cool hang out areas in the city? What are the locals proud of in terms of their city and what are they ashamed of or afraid of in their city?

Step 2 Highlight details of the city that are essential to your story.

  • For example, maybe your character spends a lot of time at the private school located in the city center. Take the time to think about small details of the school, from how the building appears within the surrounding area to the school colors and the school mascot. Focus on the area around the school and the layout of the school, including classrooms and areas your character spends a lot of time in.

Step 3 Use the five senses.

  • For example, maybe your city has a polluted river that runs through the area. Think of how it smells as you walk by the river. Have your characters comment on the stench of the river and the way the river looks or sounds.
  • Your story will likely involve several locations or settings that recur. Focus on using the five senses to describe these recurring settings well, as this will help the world of the story feel more convincing.

Step 4 Add real-life details to your city.

  • For example, your characters may spend time in a dense urban area in the city. The area may be populated with strange creatures and monsters but it may also have elements you may find in a real-life urban area, like buildings, streets, and alleyways. Having real-life details and imagined details together can make it easier to build a believable world.

Step 5 Place the characters within the setting and have them move around.

  • For example, if you have a character who needs to access a magical portal in the middle of the city to time travel, you should make sure the magical portal is described well in the fictional city. The magical portal should contain enough detail to be believable and your character should interact with it in an interesting way. This will ensure your fictional city is supporting your character’s needs and goals.

Step 6 Describe the city through the perspectives of your characters.

  • Place your character in a situation where she has to walk around or interact with a certain section of the city. Or, have your character use a facility in the city that then allows her to describe how it feels to use the facility. This will give you the opportunity to have descriptions of the fictional city through the perspective of the character, which will feel more believable and convincing to the reader than simply telling the reader about the facility.
  • You should also have your characters treat the more fantastical or strange elements of the fictional city casually and in a straightforward manner. If your fictional city is located under water, for example, a character who has lived in the city for a long period of time may not be surprised that he has to get in his submarine to visit with his neighbor. You can describe the character getting into the submarine and programming it for its destination in a casual, everyday kind of way. This will signal to the reader that submarines are common in this fictional city and used as a form of transportation without having to directly tell the reader that this is the case.

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Write Flash Fiction

  • ↑ http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/10/the-50-coolest-fictional-cities/
  • ↑ http://thewritelife.com/worldbuilding/
  • ↑ https://scottwrites.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/how-to-create-your-own-fake-town/
  • ↑ http://www.springhole.net/writing/town-and-city-questions.htm
  • ↑ http://io9.gizmodo.com/7-deadly-sins-of-worldbuilding-998817537
  • ↑ http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/09/17/25-things-you-should-know-about-worldbuilding/

About This Article

Stephanie Wong Ken, MFA

To write about a fictional city, first think of a name that reflects your story world. For example, if your city is in Germany, you might use a German word for your name, or if it's in Canada, you could take an existing Canadian city and change it slightly. Next, write a historical record including details of why and when your city was founded. Then, write a description of your city to create a sense of its atmosphere, climate, and terrain. Finally, draw a map of your city, including major landmarks and where your main characters live and work. For more tips from our Creative Writing co-author, including how to add specific details, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Place — Description of an Imaginary Place: Ethereal Meadows

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Description of an Imaginary Place: Ethereal Meadows

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The lure of mystical landscapes, a symphony of nature's wonders, creatures of whimsical beauty, a haven of tranquility and reflection, endless horizons of exploration, an inspiration for creativity and wonder, conclusion: a realm beyond the possible.

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imaginary city essay

The Nature of Cities

Cities in Imagination

David maddox, new york.  21 october 2015.

imaginary city essay

3 Comments Join our conversation

26. Maddox

So this imagining needs a fourth leg. These are the cities of our dreams: resilient, sustainable, livable, just .

Let’s imagine.

We can imagine sustainable cities—ones that can persist in energy, food and ecological balance—that are nevertheless brittle, socially or infrastructurally, to shocks and major perturbations. That is, they are not resilient. Such cities are not truly sustainable, of course—because they will be crushed by major perturbations they’re not in it for the long term—but their lack of sustainability is for reasons beyond the usually definitions of energy and food systems. We can imagine resilient cities—especially cities that are made so through extraordinary and expensive works of grey infrastructure—that are not sustainable from the point of view of energy consumption, food security, economy, or other resources.

We can imagine livable cities that are neither resilient nor sustainable.

And, it is easy to imagine resilient and sustainable cities that are not livable — and so are not truly sustainable.

Easiest of all is to imagine cities of injustice, because they exist all around us. The nature of their injustice may be difficult to solve or even comprehend within our systems of economy and government, but it’s easy to see .

The point is that we must conceive and build our urban areas based on a vision of the future that creates cities that are resilient + sustainable + livable + just. No one of these is sufficient for our dream cities of the future. Yet we often pursue these four elements on independent tracks, with separate government agencies pursuing one or another and NGOs and community organizations devoted to a single track. Of course, many cities around the world don’t really have the resources to make progress in any of the four.

A key problem for us, in all of these concepts, is that they exist so beautifully in the realm of metaphor. They work in metaphor. Everyone can agree that “resilience” is a good thing. Who wouldn’t want that? Raise your hand.

I thought so.

But an operational definition is really about difficult choices. Bringing a word like resilience—or sustainability, or livability, or justice—down from the realm of metaphor is hard because it quickly becomes clear that it is about nothing else but difficult choices. Choices that often produce winners and losers. We have to be specific about the choices involved in resilience or sustainability or livability or justice, and the trade-offs they imply. As societies we have to be explicit about these trade-offs—about their consequences. I think often we don’t have open and fair conversations about these issues because we don’t want to know about these trade offs, maybe not so much because we care about the losers, but because the winners of the world have so much to lose. Think developers who consume green space—often with the government’s blessing—without concern for sustainability issues or accommodations for the less wealthy. Or the growth- and consumption-obsessed nations driving the climate change that may destroy communities around the world, communities that have little responsibility that climate change.

Most people in my circles make strong claims about the critical value of nature and ecosystems. Nature is thought to provide key benefits for resilience, such as technical aid to storm water management. Nature—and we way we use it—is the key foundation to sustainability. Nature cleans the air and water. It provides food. Nature provides beauty and serenity for people. This is all to say that nature and “green” provide immense and diverse benefits to societies, cities, and their people.

Do we believe these benefits are real? Are true? I do. If we believe in these benefits, then who should have access to them? Everyone. Does everyone have access to these benefits? No. That’s as true in Cape Town as it is in Los Angeles or Manchester.

If the benefits of green are true—in the broad sense of nature and in our approach to the built environment—then it is clear that issues of green and nature are also questions of justice, and that there is a key and essential role for nature to play in the notion of just cities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has long had a definition of environmental justice. It intends to specifically address the fact that environmental “bads”—dumps, incinerators, legacies of industrial pollution, and so on—are disproportionally placed in poorer neighborhoods. That’s a fact that results from a host of reasons: inadvertent, economic, political and sometimes more cynical. Here is the EPA’s definition. Environmental justice will achieved:

…when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn and work.

Many have written about the limits of this definition, although to me it is pretty strong and progressive, especially the part about decision-making. But it lacks the idea that everyone also deserves equal and fair access to environmental “goods” and the services they provide: healthy food, resilience to storms, clean air and water, parks, beauty. So an improvement to the definition, a more complete manifesto of belief, would be that environmental justice is achieved:

…when everyone enjoys the same degree of strong protection from environmental and health hazards, the same high level access to all the various services and benefits that nature can provide, and equal access to the decision-making processes for both to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, work, and prosper.

Although some of the world’s cities are better than others in fulfilling this dream, probably none fully achieve it, although more embrace the idea of it. Most don’t even come close.

For example, there is a crisis of open space in many of the world’s cities. My city, New York, offers about 4m 2 of open space per capita in the form of parks and plazas. Although the distribution of this open space is not entirely equitable (and some of the parks in poorer neighborhoods are of less quality) New York is to be commended for an explicit PlaNYC (New York’s long term sustainability plan) goal that says every New Yorker should live within a ten-minute walk of a park. We’re about 85 percent of the way to achieving this goal. This is the kind of specificity that can take green’s contribution to livability down from the level of metaphor and into on-the-ground evaluation and action.

Many of the world’s cities don’t fare so well. Although New York is a fairly dense city, Mumbai has 1 percent of the open space per person that New York has, its public commons gobbled up by cozy and opaque relationships between government and developers.

Not that the United States has so much to brag about. The Washington Post reported that in Washington DC there is a strong correlation between tree canopy and average income—the richer people get the benefit of trees. In Los Angeles, areas dominated by Latinos or African Americans have dramatically lower access to parks (as measured by park acres per 1,000 children) than areas dominated by whites. Countywide only 36 percent of Los Angelenos have close access to a park.

These are patterns the world over: when there are open spaces and ecosystem services at all, they tend to be for the benefit of richer or more connected people. This has to change in any city we would call just.

“It is difficult to take in all the glory of the Dandelion, as it is to take in a mountain, or a thunderstorm.”

Charles Burchfield (1893–1967) is legendary for his watercolor landscapes, painted near his Buffalo, NY, home. He was also a great journalist and over his lifetime wrote over 10,000 pages in various handmade volumes. It was there, on 5 May 1963, that he wrote the quote above.

DandilionSeedHeadAndTheMoonBirchfield2

We need to communicate what we value and build our cities accordingly.

Words like improvisation and imagination and intuition can sound awkward in the context of city-building and policy. Yet these are the very abilities that we require to be able to see past and beyond the details—this object is here, that process is there—to create and understand how a vast and majestic thing works and how it might change.

Perspective is another important word—a sense of what you value in the vision you are creating. The Dandelion seeds are close up in Burchfield’s picture. He values them. The sky is there too. You need to see the patterns and perspective and not only the details—the beating of the heart and not just the heart’s location in the chest.

How do you “take in” a complicated multidimensional thing like a mountain? Or a park? Or a community garden? Or a city? Or justice? It starts with an act of imagination.

It is this act that requires of us that we imagine, in specific terms, what the just city would look like. I think it would look something like the modified EPA definition I presented above. We already know what this just city doesn’t look like. You probably just have to drive around your own city. (My apologies if your city has solved this. Shout your solution from all the rooftops and soapboxes. The world needs to know.)

We need the imagination to dream about what this just city looks like, the nature of it, if you will. And then we need the courage to make it happen on the ground, by creating actual urban plans that address justice explicitly, that put justice into literal practice, in law and regulation and real action, the imagining of, say, the EPA definition, in detail, in all cities around the world.

To say this requires a sense of hope. Given the distance we have to travel to achieve just cities, in greenness or most any other sense, we have to hope.

A closing idea from Buzz Holling

One key [to resilience] is maybe best captured by the word “hope.”

Although Buzz Holling was an original elucidator of the ecological resilience concept, here he used a word that is fundamentally a human concept. What does it mean to hope? At its most basic, it is a desire for and the belief in the possibility of a certain good outcome.

So, here’s my vision of the just city. It’s green. It’s full of nature’s benefits, accessible to all. It is resilient, and sustainable, and livable, and just. It is a city that has a clear and grounded vision of what these words mean. It acts on justice and the place of nature in the city. It has the hope to believe that these things can can be achieved, and the courage and faith to bring them to life.

David Maddox New York

The Just City Essays is a joint project of The J. Max Bond Center, Next City and The Nature of Cities. © 2015 All rights are reserved.

David Maddox

About the Writer: David Maddox

David loves urban spaces and nature. He loves creativity and collaboration. He loves theatre and music. In his life and work he has practiced in all of these as, in various moments, a scientist, a climate change researcher, a land steward, an ecological practitioner, composer, a playwright, a musician, an actor, and a theatre director.

3 thoughts on “ Cities in Imagination ”

Very inspiring David Integrating nature into our urban planning, design holds the promise to make cities more resilient, more livable happier and finally prosperous places. Thanks !!!

Bringing metaphor down to earth and engaging it directly. Absolutely.

Thank you for this inspiring piece, David.

Wonderful essay. Thank you.

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Mumbai’s development plan is revised every twenty years. The revision process of the current plan is underway for preparation of a new plan for 2014-2034, to be launched some time later this year. Amongst many issues that active citizens and environmental groups have flagged is that of ecology and environment. Sadly, ecology and environmental causes are considered by authorities as...

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imaginary city essay

  • For your summer getaway, try an imaginary city

Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities” are all versions of Venice

imaginary city essay

L OOKING FOR a summer getaway? Try the city of Isidora, “where the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells”. Or perhaps Anastasia, famed for its golden pheasant cooked “over fires of seasoned cherry wood and sprinkled with much sweet marjoram”, a place where “your desires waken all at once and surround you”. Seeking somewhere even more adventurous? Consider Octavia, which is built on ropes, chains and catwalks across a void between two mountain peaks.

This fantastical itinerary awaits readers of “Invisible Cities”, Italo Calvino’s masterpiece of 1972. Nominally a series of tales that Marco Polo tells Kublai Khan, it is actually a collection of layered, labyrinthine meditations on cities, memory, desire and language. Conversations between the traveller and the emperor frame 55 short prose-poems, each describing one city and following a strict mathematical structure that bears the hallmark of the avant-garde Oulipo movement to which Calvino belonged. All these cities are simultaneously visions from Calvino’s imagination and versions of Polo’s home town, the most splendid city of all, Venice. “Memory’s images, once they are fixed in words, are erased,” Polo says (in William Weaver’s translation from the Italian). “Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it. Or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.”

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “In the mind’s eye”

Culture August 22nd 2020

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The aliens among us: How viruses shape the world

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Inspiring City

UK based art blog with the best street art and artist interviews

Imaginary City A Visual Essay of the Nuart Festival

imaginary city essay

Imaginary City is a visual essay documenting the development of Norway’s Nuart street art Festival . From film makers Kristina Borhes and Nazar Tymoshchuk. It looks at the impact on it’s host city, Stavanger, over a four year period.

Nuart was first established in 2001. It was inspired by the artist Jeremy Dellers statement “I don’t make “things”, I make things happen”. Since then the festival has become world renowned. Known for its exploration of art in public spaces. Imaginary City uses the backdrop of this festival to explore street arts ability to change the ways in which we see a city.

A Changing City

The film aims to discover what makes some cities more vivid than others. It assumes that street art can change the people themselves. That those people are changing the city in a way nobody else could. It does this whilst intentionally avoiding everything that one might normally expect from a film about street art. Certainly Imaginary City doesn’t have much in the way of action. Rather it is the art which does the talking.

Kristina Bohres speaking to Susan Hanson at the premiere of Imaginary City

Shot over three years in Stavanger from 2015 to 2018, it is a beautiful piece of film making. It’s slow pace lulls you into a state where time disappears. The approach is to give an insight into the philosophy embraced by this most enduring of street art festivals. It does just that.

Imaginary City was shot and edited by MZM Projects. An independent group focusing on research and documentation of street art and graffiti. It was formed by Kristina Borhes and Naza Tymoshchuk in Ukraine in 2015. All photographs including the cover are courtesy of Brian Tallman

The Screening of Imaginary City

For more Nuart related posts have a look at:

  • Street Art Murals of Stavanger 2019
  • The Best Street Art Pictures from the Nuart Festivals
  • Where to see Street Art in Aberdeen
  • If Homophobia Ended Tomorrow – A Film by MZM Projects
  • OX: Another Vision of the City

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IMAGINARY CITY

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“Imaginary City” is a visual essay which embraces the history of Nuart Festival as a chance to explore the ability of street art to change the ways of seeing the city.

This visual essay aims to discover what makes some cities more vivid than others. At the end it assumes that street art changes the people on the street (it can inspire, encourage, teach or challenge) and those people are changing the city by themselves in a way nobody else could. Therefore, situation “when someone in social housing go out and write quite conceptual text on electricity box” (as said by Martyn Reed in documentary) transforms into well-known right to the city as “right to change ourselves by changing the city” (David Harvey).

“Imaginary City” intentionally avoids everything that one can expect from the mainstream street art movie. It doesn’t have much of an action, art talks instead of creators, and the slow pace of film allures into zone when time disappears. This documentary was not meant to impress, but rather to give an insight into philosophy embraced by one of the oldest street art festivals in the world.

Featuring Martyn Reed, Evan Pricco, Javier Abarca and Carlo McCormick.

Filmed in Stavanger (Norway) 2015 - 2018.

  • Kristina Borhes Director
  • MZM PROJECTS Director
  • Nazar Tymoshchuk DOP
  • Project Type: Documentary, Short, Other
  • Genres: Poetic Documentary, Visual Essay, Art
  • Runtime: 23 minutes 38 seconds
  • Completion Date: April 14, 2019
  • Country of Origin: Ukraine
  • Country of Filming: Norway
  • Language: English
  • Shooting Format: Digital
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Film Color: Color
  • First-time Filmmaker: No
  • Student Project: No
  • Istanbul International Architecture and Urban Films Festival Istambul Turkey October 14, 2019 Turkey Premiere Official Selection, Finalist
  • Grenoble Street Art Movie Fest Grenoble France November 1, 2020 Winner
  • Urban Creativity Conference Lisbon Portugal July 6, 2019
  • Paris Launch at Fluctuart Paris France October 18, 2019
  • Scandinavian Premiere at Odeon Kino Stavanger Stavanger Norway September 6, 2019 Scandinavian Premiere
  • UK Premiere at BELMONT FILMHOUSE Aberdeen United Kingdom April 19, 2019 UK Premiere

1fde0271cb headshot

Kristina Borhes is a journalist, documentarist and independent researcher focused on the history of graffiti, street art and other practices in contemporary culture. Together with Nazar Tymoshchuk they founded "MZM PROJECTS", group of filmmakers known for multidisciplinary approach and specific way of storytelling on the thin border between poetry and non-fiction.

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How Did Socrates Set Up An Imaginary City

Socrates thinks that now that they've set up this imaginary city, they can try and figure out where in this city justice exists. They agree that since they've created a city that is perfectly good and has all of the virtues. They identify these virtues as wise, courageous, moderate, and just. Socrates recommends that they should try to identify where each of these qualities lies. First, they identify wisdom first. Wisdom is found with the guardians because of their knowledge of how to run the city and care for it as a whole. If the guardians did not rule the city their virtue would not translate in to the virtue of the city, but since they are ruling the city their wisdom becomes one of the city’s virtues. They then decide that courage is located in their soldiers because they are the …show more content…

They then agree that the city they designed was designed on just this principle since the guardians act as masters over the city’s population. Both the guardians and the citizens agree about how the city should be run so it makes it clear that moderation exists over the entire city. When they come to the virtue of Justice Socrates realizes what they were missing. Socrates states that justice in the principle they had established in the beginning, which is that every person would excel at the one thing for which they are most suited. He then then argues that justice is kind of like the virtue of minding your own business and that justice enables all of the city’s virtues. He then describes the three classes that exist in the city: the craftsmen, the soldiers, and the guardians. Socrates then tries to find out how all three of these classes fit into one individual and how they work together harmoniously for there to be justice. Socrates wants to know whether all of our actions come from the same part of ourselves or if there are three different parts that govern their respective

Morality and Laws in The Trial and Death of Socrates Essay example

Socrates’ view on morality is that anyone can do wrong. It is said that injuring someone in return for injury to oneself is wrong. He follows this with the connection between morality and the city. You do badly without the cities authorization; you are doing wrong towards the city and the laws. He felt if you are behaving against peoples mind and in this

The Noble Lie Essay

In the discussion between Socrates and Glaucon that involved how to create an ideal city, they divided the people into three classes: rulers, auxiliaries, and craftsmen. In this city each class has a certain role. The rulers are the highest of rank in the city. They are older, wise men who govern the state and make decisions in the best interest of the

What Is Socrates When Justice Is Good

Despite his emphasis of justice as a function of the perfect state, Socrates also deals with justice as a personal virtue. He finds that there is a parallel between the organization of the state and the individual. Just as there are three virtues other than justice, Socrates finds three parts in the individual soul: Sensation, emotion, and intelligence. The just person then must have balance between these aspects. Each must function in moderation to contribute to the health of the whole. Appetite and sensation are matters of desire. Desire must be subordinate to reason, or else they will throw the

Censorship And Education In Plato's Republic

Many of Socrates’ statements suggest that the moral education offered to each class is substantially different. For example, Socrates asks Glaucon, ‘In the city we’re establishing, who do you think will prove to be better men, the guardians, who receive the education we’ve described, or the cobblers, who are educated in cobblery?’ (456d). Socrates suggests that his city will be harmonized through persuasion (431e-432a) and he claims that the city will run smoothly with relatively few laws (427a). No one will ever find the need to think, speak, or behave in an unacceptable manner because they will not have the mental capability of even thinking to do such a

Plato's 4 Virtues

In the Republic, Plato sets up a framework to help us establish what the four virtues are, and their relationship between them to both the city and the soul. According to Plato, the four virtues are wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. There are three classes within the city: guardians, auxiliaries, and artisans; and three parts within the soul include intellect, high-spirited, and appetitive. By understanding the different classes of the city or parts of the soul, one will be able to appreciate how the virtues attribute to each one specifically.

Socrates Soul Vs The City

In The Republic Book IV, pp. 130e-136d, Socrates sets out to prove that societal justice is analogous to individual justice. In order to substantiate the analogy, Socrates compares the individual and the city. As he previously defined, justice in the city involves the power relationships between the different parts of the city, namely the guardians, the auxiliaries, and the producers.

The Importance Of Thrasymachus In Plato's Republic

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Though defeated on this point, he's not yet satisfied with Socrates' argument, and sticks by one of his previously stated views which held that injustice is more profitable than justice. However, he shrinks back and seems no longer able to speak for himself after Socrates refuted his argument on justice. Despite his withdrawal from the argument throughout the rest of the Republic, his early ideas help lead Socrates farther on his search for justice through the construction of a hypothetical just city. In describing the education of the guardians of this city, Socrates discusses the need for a balance between gymnastics and poetry. He relates how too much gymnastics lead the spirited part of someone to be overtightened and hard. "He'll be museless and hate discussion" explains Socrates. This hardness and hate for discussion reminds us of the actions of Thrasymachus at the beginning of the argument defining justice. Thrasymachus becomes an example of a "badly tuned soul" that Socrates goes on to describe.

Attaining Virtue in The Republic of Plato

To be begin with, an individual cannot be good until they have attained the virtue of wisdom, and the same can be said for the city. For the individual, the person must not only be wise himself, but his soul must have wisdom. The only way to achieve this according to Socrates, is through for philosophy. In this way it is the same for the city, for in the city, wisdom lies with the guardians as they are the philosophers. The guardians are put in charge of the city because of their knowledge of how the city should be run. Because of this, the Guardians wisdom becomes the City’s. (Book IV)

Socrates Arguments In Relation Between The City And The Individual

Plato utilizes Socrates to present arguments in regards to justice in relation to both the city and the individual. According to Socrates justice actually involves the individual to mind their own business and focus on the assignment that’s in front of them, “Moreover, we’ve heard many people say and have often said ourselves that justice is doing one’s own work and not meddling with what isn’t one’s own,” (108p:433a). A just person is going to do their most productive work, focusing on the tasks that they have in front of them and not interfere in others labor. Just is a man who's giving the same about as receives, this is both on the individual level and the state level. According to Socrates a person’s soul contains three parts spirit,

How Do Socrates And Adeimantus Create An Imaginary City

Socrates said “The healthy city isn't adequate anymore, but must already be gorged with bulky mass of things, which are not in cities because of necessity. “but to provide all of these things the city will need to grow in land and so likely sparking war and enmity. As a result, the city will need an entire army to protect its citizens and its property from other cities in order to create an adequate army. Socrates determined that the guardians must be lovers of learning and wisdom they must be philosophers.

Socrates, Adeimantus, And Glaucon

In the Greek society, there was enough wine and spirits for Socrates and his buddies to philosophize on the world around them, beginning the conversation of what is just and not. Ideas transform throughout the conversations of Socrates, Adeimantus, and Glaucon in the Republic forming what justice is in the opinion of Socrates. This opinion, the city in speech, is challenged by Adeimantus and Glaucon but Socrates eloquently responds to their challenges. Socrates’ answers with his city of speech are effective against the challenges of Adeimantus and Glaucon because every human has a soul with decency that is almost impossible to deny.

Compare And Contrast Machiavelli And The Prince

Although Socrates encourages questioning authority, he focuses on achieving morality and justice. He believes that

Socrates Ideal City Analysis

“Then, under the influence either of poverty or of wealth, workmen and their work are equally liable to degenerate” (Plato 277). On the other hand, poverty causes the craftsmen to develop a rebel attitude. As such, the will resort to evil deeds in order to sustain themselves in the city. Another class in the city is the soldiers. Plato, through his mouthpiece Socrates, argues that the courage of the people of the city lie in their soldiers. However, courage is not a state in which there is lack of fear. Rather it is a state of knowing and persevering in one’s own convictions. However, for this to happen, soldiers need access to good education, which will strengthen their convictions. Education becomes an important part in ensuring that the soldiers understand their role in the city. “Educating [soldiers] in music and gymnastic; we were contriving influences which would prepare them to take the dye of the laws in perfection” (Plato 286). In other words, without education, soldiers would not be able to make decisions that resonate with their beliefs. Thus, lack of fear alone would not serve a full potential as it forms only a smaller portion of what courage constitutes. The third class of the city is the guardians. According to Plato, “Here, then, is a discovery of new evils, I said, against which the guardians will have to watch” (277). Guardians are portrayed as people who have wisdom to watch over

Comparing Plato 's And Socrates ' Arguments Of Life And The View Of The Athenian Democracy

It is argued that one of the most important part of the book is when Socrates tries to define justice and find it in his artificially established city therefore I chose to critically analyze the passage from Book IV. Before starting to assess the argument he

Reflection Paper on "The Republic" by Plato

According to Socrates, the city is similar to a human being in a sense that it also consists of three classes: the money-making (appetitive), auxiliary (spirit), and deliberative (reason). He claims that the city is just if, and only if, all these three classes do their own job and do not interfere in one another’s actions. Consequently, a person is just because all 3 parts of his soul are doing their own job, according to provided analogy.

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Cinematic imaginary cities as a pattern for sustainable urban planning: Gotham City

Profile image of Anna Maria  Ntarladima

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the cinematic projection of Gotham city on real urban planning and sustainability. It is a fact that there is a bidirectional connection between the cinema and the city. The evolution of cinema is frequently connected to and affected by the city, and simultaneously the city reforms as cinematic scenery. This study examines how the utopian and dystopian features of an imaginary city could have an impact on urban planning. Specifically, this paper concentrates on the case of Gotham City. Gotham City is an interesting example of cinematic imaginary city for research. It is projected as a dark city, very inappropriate to live in, though combining a great number of sustainable features. As a city, Gotham has been projected in media (comics, T.V., cinema, video games, etc.) over the years, gaining various dimensions. In cinema, these dimensions emerge from the perspectives of three different directors: Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Christopher Nolan. The characteristics that are analyzed in these perspectives are: geography, urban landscape, architecture, urban functions, social characteristics, urban economics and sustainability. This paper suggests directions that can be applied on real urban planning, taking into account the examined factors.

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Film Quarterly 66:3 (2013), pp.15-27.

Martin Fradley

imaginary city essay

Iñigo Urionaguena

This is my final dissertation for my English degree. It focuses on the importance of the city of Gotham in the Cristopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy and on the Batman mythos.

Sebastian Averill

The German philosopher Martin Heidegger once wrote in the 1938 essay World as Picture that 'Everyday opinion sees in the shadow only the lack of light, if not light's complete denial.' 'In truth', he countered, 'the shadow is a manifest, though impenetrable, testimony to the concealed emitting of light.' Bear this in mind for a minute and consider a scene from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Batman battles the masked-terrorist Bane in Gotham City's sewers. 'Shadows betrays you', Bane sneers, 'because they belong to me!' I argue that this is Christopher Nolan's philosophy of film-making itself. I argue that, even though he disavows any political message in his Batman trilogy, a powerfully Conservative statement resonates throughout. By looking at Nolan's filmic-inheritance of anxiety about the urban space from specific Twentieth-Century film (Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Gillo Pontecorvo's La Battaglia di Algeri, David Lynch's Doctor Zhivago, Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner), we can discern the same anxiety operating in the Batman trilogy. Doing what Foucault would call an 'archaeology' (excavating the lineage of the present and looking at past discourses 'as such') is not, however, enough; we need to develop a methodology for examining film that breaks out of Deconstructionism. Hegelian phenomenology allows us to 'own' our ideas, to not be afraid of living them and operationalizing them politically. Deconstructionism traps us in a prison of anxiety about what to say and what we mean when we do say anything. The final part of my dissertation maps out how politically-Hegelian film theory can be done, applying it specifically to the content of Nolan's Batman trilogy. To return to the theme of light, the success of the Left depends on historians being able to turn our anger at the obscuring of light into effective ways to ensure that this does not happen in future.

[sic] - a journal of literature, culture and literary translation

Marko Lukic

What this analysis proposes is a re-evaluation of the crucial, and often neglected, issues of space/place within the Batman opus, concentrating primarily on Batman’s use of various spaces/places in order to enforce control and/or discipline. The study will initially be premised on the use of the Foucauldian discourse regarding the implementation of invisible control and therefore power, structuring its arguments around the theoretical concepts of the dispositive/apparatus as well as Bentham’s Panopticum. The paper will develop the idea of the Batcave as the actual site of control, the starting point of the Foucauldian notion of the “gaze being alert everywhere” (Discipline and Punish 195). Symbolically made visible by the prominent brightness of the Bat-signal, but nevertheless constantly hidden from the eyes of the criminals, the Batcave assures the presence of power that “should be visible and unverifiable” (Foucault, Discipline 201), and therefore exerts discipline. The paper will also address the issue of Crime Alley as a site of inversion by using the theoretical concept of heterotopian space as proposed by Foucault, as well as Gaston Bachelard’s idea of subjective/domestic spaces. Following the idea of a space recoded by tragedy the analysis will explore the immunity of Crime Alley in relation to Batman’s disciplinary praxis and the Panoptic gaze, as well as its potential to subvert Batman’s “laboratory of power” (Foucault, Discipline 204).

Joanna Hebda

Larrie Dudenhoeffer

Kimberly Owczarski

Camera Obscura

Sarah Higley

Gabriel Huddleston

Brandon Bosch

Drawing on research on authoritarianism, this study analyzes the relationship between levels of threat in society and representations of crime, law, and order in mass media, with a particular emphasis on the superhero genre. Although the superhero genre is viewed as an important site of mediated images of crime and law enforcement, cultural criminologists have been relatively quiet about this film genre. In addressing this omission, I analyze authoritarian themes (with an emphasis on crime, law, and order) in the Batman film franchise across different periods of threat. My qualitative content analysis finds that authoritarianism themes of fear and need for order and concern about aggressive action toward crime are more common in Batman films during high-threat periods. I also find that criticism of authority figures is more prevalent in Batman films during high-threat periods, which challenges previous research on authoritarianism as well as the alleged conservative media bias toward police.

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organization and expansion

Organization and land use, city site                                                              .

city layout and land use

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Elektrostal

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imaginary city essay

Elektrostal , city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia . It lies 36 miles (58 km) east of Moscow city. The name, meaning “electric steel,” derives from the high-quality-steel industry established there soon after the October Revolution in 1917. During World War II , parts of the heavy-machine-building industry were relocated there from Ukraine, and Elektrostal is now a centre for the production of metallurgical equipment. Pop. (2006 est.) 146,189.

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Guest Essay

Hillary Clinton: I’ve Debated Trump and Biden. Here’s What I’m Watching For.

Facing away from each other, Hillary Rodham Clinton stands onstage on the left and Donald Trump stands on the right.

By Hillary Rodham Clinton

Mrs. Clinton was the Democratic nominee for president in 2016.

Last week I had the time of my life at the Tony Awards introducing a song from “Suffs,” the Broadway musical I co-produced about the suffragists who won women the right to vote. I was thrilled when the show took home the awards for best original score and best book.

From “Suffs” to “Hamilton,” I love theater about politics. But not the other way around. Too often we approach pivotal moments like this week’s debate between President Biden and Donald Trump like drama critics. We’re picking a president, not the best actor.

I am the only person to have debated both men (Mr. Trump in 2016 and, in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary race, Mr. Biden). I know the excruciating pressure of walking onto that stage and that it is nearly impossible to focus on substance when Mr. Trump is involved. In our three debates in 2016, he unleashed a blizzard of interruptions, insults and lies that overwhelmed the moderators and did a disservice to the voters who tuned in to learn about our visions for the country — including a record 84 million viewers for our first debate.

It is a waste of time to try to refute Mr. Trump’s arguments like in a normal debate. It’s nearly impossible to identify what his arguments even are. He starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather. This has gotten only worse in the years since we debated. I was not surprised that after a recent meeting, several chief executives said that Mr. Trump, as one journalist described it, “could not keep a straight thought” and was “all over the map.” Yet expectations for him are so low that if he doesn’t literally light himself on fire on Thursday evening, some will say he was downright presidential.

Mr. Trump may rant and rave in part because he wants to avoid giving straight answers about his unpopular positions, like restrictions on abortion, giving tax breaks to billionaires and selling out our planet to big oil companies in return for campaign donations. He interrupts and bullies — he even stalked me around the stage at one point — because he wants to appear dominant and throw his opponent off balance.

These ploys will fall flat if Mr. Biden is as direct and forceful as he was when engaging Republican hecklers at the State of the Union address in March. The president also has facts and truth on his side. He led America’s comeback from a historic health and economic crisis, with more than 15 million jobs created so far, incomes for working families rising, inflation slowing and investments in clean energy and advanced manufacturing soaring. He’ll win if that story comes through.

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