Destruction by Globalization
In the age of advanced technologies and world economies, globalization has degraded the significance of national borders. This global market has created the need for a new type of conceptual architecture, as explained by sociologist Saskia Sassen. Sassen’s “The Global City: Introducing a Concept” delves into the specifics of this phenomenon. Beginning in the 1980s, international corporations and subsequent global communication weakened the role of nations as independent economic units. Instead, a network of global cities emerged – all unified under one global economy. The economic fortunes of these resulting global cities became increasingly disconnected from their national economies, according to Sassen.
This newfound economic organization directly impacts the spatial function of global cities. The same way in which a place loses its unique economic identity, it will lose its architectural identity as well. The idea of “centrality” has been stripped of its meaning, and the hierarchies and spatial inequalities of cities will begin to blend, given the even exchange of information. This results in expanded metropolitan grids of business nodes, and an erasing of the history of place. As we know, globalization is intrinsically destructive. It destroys the history and identity of our cities and replaces it with a blueprint laid out by global corporations.
The big question we must ask ourselves is not how can we stop it but how can we develop with it? As we grow farther from the fractalized version of humanity that once had millions of different sub-cultures, it can feel like we are growing against the natural flow of evolution. The inverse relationship between technological advancements and the speciation of humanity is a bizarre duality we must balance between. But we have to keep in mind that speciation through convergence is still evolution. Our universal mindset may not be the best thing for our cultural diversity or our economic independence but it could benefit us in many other ways and it is a reality we must learn to design with either way.
ReplyDeleteHello Brittany,
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how an extended period of globalization will galvanized different communities. While I agree with your argument that the globe is becoming more homogenized, I am interest to see the reaction across different communities. Will communities find a way to diverge and become more recursive? Or will communities rush to "be more global" and try to find more new vernaculars to play with? Only time will tell but I thinking it will lean more heavily to investigations of places looking within themselves to formulate new ideas.
Best,
Vincent Christopher II