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November 16, 2006
A World of Cities
Steven Johnson is going to be contributing a series of stories about our urban planet to the NY Times. While the idea is a good one, he is off to a dubious start:
[From a discussion of John Snow's legacy] London was the first great city to work its way through this dialectic, but in the decades that followed, the cities of the developed world all learned from London’s example, and built comparable systems to ward off diseases like cholera. And with these changes came an equally important transformation in the mindset of city dwellers: metropolitan living shifted from a dubious proposition, likely to implode, as Rome had over a millenium earlier, to something solid and sustainable.
Perhaps someone should point out to him that, as of now, classical Rome's track record of staying power and vibrancy is far more impressive than that that modern (ie post-John Snow) London has compiled. Some might even point out that Roman cities have proven highly sustainable: after all, Rome, and London, started out that way.
Posted by dag at November 16, 2006 11:30 AM