LACITTCOMETESTOscrittureeriscrittureurbane/

euro ISSN 1720-52989 7 7 1 7 2 05 2 9 0 0 38 0 0 0 1ISSN 1720-5298 LexiaRIVISTA DI SEMIOTICAnuova serie /

LexiaRIVISTA DI SEMIOTICA nuova serieDirezioneUgo VolliComitato di consulenza scienticaKristian BankovPierre-Marie BeaudeDenis BertrandOmar CalabreseDonatella Di CesareRaul DorraRuggero EugeniGuido FerraroBernard JacksonEric LandowskiGiovanni ManettiDiego MarconiGianfranco MarroneJos Augusto MouroJos Maria Paz GagoIsabella PezziniMarina SbisPeeter ToropEero TarastiPatrizia VioliRedazioneMassimo LeoneAntonio SantangeloGian Marco De MariaLaura RolleAnnalisa De VitisDaniela GhidoliPaola GhioneRoberto MastroianniFederica TurcoSede legaleCIRCE, Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerche sulla Comunicazionecon sede amministrativa pressolUniversit di Torino Dipartimentodi Filosoavia SantOttavio 20, 10124 TorinoInfo: massimo.leone@unito.it Registrazione presso il Tribunale di Torinon. 4 del 26/02/2009Amministrazione e abbonamentiAracne editrice S.r.l.via Raffaele Garofalo, 133 a-b00173 Romainfo@aracneeditrice.itSkype Name: aracneeditricewww.aracneeditrice.itLa rivista pu essere acquistata nella sezioneacquisti del sito www.aracneeditrice.itvietatalariproduzione,ancheparziale,conqualsiasimezzoeffettuatacompresalafotocopia,ancheausointernoodidattico,non autorizzataI edizione: aprile 2009ISBN 978-88-548-XXX-XISSN XXXX-XXXXStampatopercontodellacasaeditriceAracnenelmesediaprile2009pressolatipograa Braille Gamma S.r.l. di SantaRuna di Cittaducale (Ri)LA CITT COME TESTOscritture e riscritture urbaneAtti del Convegno InternazionaleUniversit di Torino Facolt di Lettere e Filosoa maggio (organizzato con il contributo del MIURPRIN : La citt come testo)con un saggio inedito in francese diALGIRDAS J GREIMASa cura di Massimo LeoneCON LA COLLABORAZIONE DIGian Marco De Maria Annalisa De Vitis Daniela GhidoliRoberto Mastroianni Laura Rolle Antonio Santangelo Federica Turco5 Indice PREFAZIONE Il testo della citt Problemi metodologici e teorici UGO VOLLI ........................................................................................................9 PARTE I La citt come limite: confini, confinamenti, sconfinamenti........................23 Reading the City in a Global Digital Age The Limits of Topographic Representation SASKIA SASSEN.................................................................................................25 Nuovi spazi semiotici nella citt Due casi a Roma ISABELLA PEZZINI.............................................................................................49 Formazioni e trasformazioni di spazi linguistici e sociali Appunti sullEsquilino ILARIA TANI......................................................................................................69 Vuoti, stratificazioni, migrazioni Programmazioni urbanistiche e forme dellabitare a Roma PIERLUIGI CERVELLI ..........................................................................................95 Il senso del luogo Qualche riflessione di metodo a partire da un caso specifico PATRIZIA VIOLI.................................................................................................113 Il litorale versiliese tra strategia urbanistica e autorappresentazione ANDREA TRAMONTANA .....................................................................................129 PARTE II La citt come forma: informazioni, riformazioni, deformazioni ................145 Citt/brand Esercizio di sociosemiotica discorsiva GIANFRANCO MARRONE...................................................................................147 Turismo ed effetto citt MARIA CLAUDIA BRUCCULERI, ALICE GIANNITRAPANI....................................171 INDICE 6 Citt di sabbia Pratiche di costruzione del senso in una localit balneare DARIO MANGANO............................................................................................. 187 Oltre lidea di citt GUIDO FERRARO............................................................................................... 215 La rappresentazione di Torino nel mondo degli user generated contents ANTONIO SANTANGELO.................................................................................... 223 PARTE III La citt come simbolo: realt, virtualit, immaginazione ........................... 239 Esterni londinesi Lo spettacolo infinito ROSSANA BONADEI........................................................................................... 241 Pietroburgo, citt immaginaria UGO PERSI ......................................................................................................... 271 La cittmacchina e il laboratorio futurista russo ROSANNA CASARI............................................................................................. 281 Linvivibile contemporaneo nelle citt di Yannick Haenel FRANCESCA MELZI DERIL............................................................................... 297 La citt come mondo della vita: le regard des ados Unincursione nella letteratura per ragazzi MARIA SILVIA DA RE ........................................................................................ 311 From L.A to L.A. Rappresentazione cinematografica di una citt duale GIAN MARCO DE MARIA ................................................................................... 321 Policlastia Una tipologia semiotica MASSIMO LEONE............................................................................................... 335 PARTE IV La citt come progetto: azioni, reazioni, interazioni................................... 357 La citt e il suo pubblico Immagine prodotta e immagine recepita. Il successo delle Olimpiadi Torino 2006 SERGIO SCAMUZZI ............................................................................................. 359 INDICE Lexia, 12/2008 7 Rimini_Segni, Percorsi e mappe del territorio urbano Riminese Analisi semioticoprogettuale GIAMPAOLO PRONI............................................................................................377 Citt Testo, Citt Metalinguaggio CARLO CRESPELLANI........................................................................................389 APPENDICE Le songe de Gediminas: essai danalyse du mythe lithuanien de la fondation de la cit ALGIRDAS JULIEN GREIMAS..............................................................................411 Note biografiche degli autori ............................................................................443 INDICE 8 9 PREFAZIONE Il testo della citt Problemi metodologici e teorici UGO VOLLI* The text of cities Methodological and theoretical problems. English abstract: In relation with cities, text is a metaphor or a model. Nevertheless, it is useful for understanding the ability for communication of every city and the spe-cificwaysofthiscommunication. Textuality impliesqualities ascomplexity,perma-nence, overlapping of significations. These effects can be classified following criteria of length of time, spatial overlap, communications pointing to different material func-tions.Thecitysignificationworksonthebasisofcoherence(isotopic)effectbythe autonomoussignificationsofitsparts(buildings,streets,squaresetc.),usingmainly theirexteriorcommunicationsurfaces.Onthatbasisitispossibletowriteandtore-writecitiesonmanylevels,oftenasabricolagepatchwork,orevenanagonistic confrontationofpowers.Butitisimportanttheactionofcoordinationrealizedby laws, material boundaries, and direct public intervention. Keywords: city, text, model, communication, exteriority, coherence, patchwork. Riscrivereiltestourbanomadavverountestolacitt,un messaggiochesipossascrivereeriscrivere?Oessapiuttostouna macchinaperabitare,secondolanotametaforafunzionalistadiLe Courbusier sugli edifici, che si pu facilmente estendere dalla casa ai pi vasti complessi urbani? Oppure si tratta di un organismo, come si sostiene per esempio nel recente volume a cura di Maria Teresa Lu-carelli (2006). O ancora un prodotto essenzialmente sacrale (France-schi,1977),outopico(Choay,1973,Olivetti,2001)?Unaconcentra-zioneecologica(Aa.Vv.1996)opiuttostounfenomenoeconomico (Camagni,2002,Evans,1998)?Unarete?Unoperadarte?Labase materiale di una societ? Un fatto etologico, paragonabile ad alveari e * Universit di Torino. PREFAZIONE 10 tanedialtrespecieanimali?Oinfineessahauncaratteretotalmente autonomo,cheneautorizzalanalisisoloneisuoipropritermini,se-condo le metodologie caratteristiche della progettazione urbanistica? chiaro che dal punto di vista sostanziale le citt non sono davvero testi,ononsoloci;quellatestualeunametaforaounmodello,il che peraltro non le impedisce di poter avere un valore importante dal puntodivistacognitivo(Montuschi,1993).Difattolemetaforeoi modelli che si possono applicare al fenomeno urbano sono molteplici, in grado di rivelarne con differenti capacit esplicative aspetti diversi. Se il funzionamento concreto della realt urbana cos multiforme da nonpermettercidisceglierefacilmenteunipotesiinvecedellaltra, neppure il linguaggio ci aiuta granch a deciderci fra questi differenti percorsimetaforici:cittcivitas,legatoaunaradicesanscrita *kei che ha una connotazione affettiva (cara); urbe, non indoeuro-peo,probabilmentelegatoaorbischeforseveicolailsensodi uninclusione; polis in relazione col sanscrito pur, fortezza; ma vi sono anche i posti come il greco astyn e il germanico stad, i recintielefortezzecometownegradBenveniste,1969,I,Cap. VI).Lacittnonnascesecondounessenzaunica,maunprodotto storico, che ha caratteristiche diverse a seconda delle culture. Dunque necessario ribadire preliminarmente che non vi unidea unica,unessenzadellacitt:nonsoloperlapluralitdeipercorsidi conoscenza che abbiamo appena accennato citando alcune delle possi-bili metafore fondanti, ma anche proprio nei fatti, come si verifica fa-cilmente confrontando la struttura e laspetto di Bologna e di Los An-geles, di Gerusalemme e di Tokio, dellAtene Classica e della moder-naNewYorkoggettitipologicamenteeanaliticamenteassaidi-versi. Cosa sia propriamente una citt e cosa un villaggio, una conurba-zione, un accampamento, una metropoli o una rete di insediamenti una decisione che dipende dal modo in cui una certa societ di fatto abita ma anche da come pensa nel profondo il proprio modo di abita-re: il rapporto fra abitazione e pensiero uno dei temi importanti della filosofiadelNovecento(Heidegger,1954).Molteculture,fracuiper esempioesplicitamentelatradizioneebraicanellaBibbiaenelTal-mud,distinguonoradicalmentefracittmurate(lesoleverecitt)e non murate (sostanzialmente i villaggi), per cui nessuna pi delle no-Il testo della citt Problemi metodologici e teorici (Ugo Volli) Lexia, 12/2008 11 stre sarebbe una citt nel senso proprio. Altre culture pensano che una sola sia la citt per eccellenza, la loro capitale (Atene, Roma, Gerusa-lemme, Costantinopoli); queste metropoli sono spesso indicate lingui-sticamente come la citt. Altre ancora distinguono accuratamente fra uncentrorappresentativo(city)eunazonapifittamenteabitata (town), oppure gerarchizzano metropoli, citt, cittadine, borghi e pae-si,comelelingueneolatine.Incerticasilanozionedicittchiara-mente giuridicopolitica e implica certe libert o immunit per i propri cittadini diverse da quelle degli abitanti del contado. stato cos che nellepoca dei Comuni e ancora per secoli nellordinamento giuridico italiano il titolo di citt veniva assegnato dallautorit politica. Che la citt implichi un modo di essere diverso dalla campagna si vede anche da espressioni come urbano per gentile e invece cafone (vale a di-re originariamente contadino) per male educato. Inaltricasilanozionereligiosa(lasedediunvescovado).In certicasiinvecelecittsicostituisconosullabasediuncriterio astrattamentegeometrico(sipensiaBrasiliaoadaltrecitt americaneedificatealcentrodegliStatidicuisarannocapitali). Talvoltailcriterioquantitativoodemografico.Ilterritoriourbano puesseredefinitoalleuropeaperunastrettacontinuit,o allamericanainmanieramoltopilasca.Cittnuovenascono dallunionedivillaggi,oppuresidistinguononellacontinuit territorialiperragionisoloamministrative(MilanoeSestoSan Giovanni). Si potrebbe continuare ancora a lungo. La molteplicit delle denominazioni linguistiche degli ambienti ur-bani corrisponde dunque a quella delle concezioni della citt. E queste concezioni a loro volta informano i progetti e le pratiche dellabitare, diventano case e strade e piazze. Per questanalisi e per ogni decisione sulla definizione della citt, bisogna partire dal fatto ovvio che la citt non affatto un fenomeno naturale, una cosa del mondo come le isole elemontagne,anchesepossiamocertamenteidentificarlanellog-gettivitdelcostruito.alcontrariounfenomenostoricosociale,il frutto di unattivit umana dipendente da pensieri, credenze, ideologie come da interessi e fatti di potere. il risultato di un progetto. Somi-glia in questo ad altri fenomeni materiali istituiti, come il sistema eco-nomicoequellogiuridicoequelloartistico:insiemidicosechedi-pendono da un senso e dunque sono il frutto specifico di una cultura.PREFAZIONE 12 Lacittnondunqueovviamenteungenerenaturalecomeunci-presso,mailsuomododiessererisultadalloggettivazionediunsi-stemadipensierocomeaccadeperunsantuarioounufficio.Nonsi capisce la sua realt concreta se non si pensa alla sua funzione e dun-quealsistemadivalorispecificochemotivaquestafunzione,contri-buendo a plasmare la sua stessa forma. Anche oggi, sotto lapparenza di uno stile internazionale sempre pi monotono e ripetitivo che non sostanzialmentevariatodallavolutastranezzadicostruzioniintese comesculture,laconcezionedellecittelalorostrutturaamplia-mentedivergenteindiverseculturestoriche.necessariocoscon-trapporre per esempio i centri antichi ben definiti della maggior parte dellecitteuropee(nonostanteicrescentifenomenidischiumame-tropolitanachelecircondano:Volli,2005)allaretedelleautostrade checaratterizzalecittnuovedibuonapartedelcontinenteamerica-no, la periferia intesa come suburbio benestante delle citt statunitensi alsuousocomefavelaabbandonatodellamaggiorpartedelTerzo Mondo e cos via. Lanostradomandadevesseredunqueriformulata.Nondobbiamo chiederci se la citt sia un testo, ma se sia opportuno applicare il mo-dello testuale (o un modello testuale) agli oggetti complessi che la no-stra cultura chiama citt (sia nel nostro tempo che nel passato). fun-zionaleilcriteriotestualistaallacomprensionedeidiversifenomeni urbani, o almeno di una parte significativa di essi? Per rispondere bi-sognaprenderemoltobrevementeinesameilportatometaforicoe concettuale della nozione di testo. Alcune delle caratteristiche della testualit si applicano certamente senza problemi, anzi banalmente a tutti gli ambienti urbani. In partico-lare accade cos le due accezioni di Colombo e Eugeni (1996): la citt certamenteuntextum,untessutocomplessocompostodipersone, cose,storiedivita,mezzidiproduzioneediabitazione;edinoltre anche,piomenovolontariamente,sempretestis,testimonedelpro-priopassatocheperduraecontinuaaportaresensobenoltreilmo-mento della sua produzione. La citt infatti dura. Queste due caratteri-stiche non sono il portato di una modellazione teorica, non sono meta-foreomodididire,appartengonoinevitabilmenteaqualunquecosa noi possiamo chiamare citt, dato che sono le conseguenze inevitabili Il testo della citt Problemi metodologici e teorici (Ugo Volli) Lexia, 12/2008 13 rispettivamente di una certa numerosit di insediamento e del suo ca-ratterestabile,cheimpossibileeliminaredaqualunquedefinizione ragionevoledeifenomeniurbani.Maquestisonoancherequisitive-ramente minimi, che sarebbero soddisfatti anche da un bosco visto da unecologoodaunasezionedicrostaterrestreesaminatadaungeo-logo La metafora testuale ci dice di pi. Quando parliamo di testo urba-nointendiamomettereinevidenzaalmenounaltraqualit,laquale neitestiverbali,visivi,audiovisivi, informatici,ecc.disolitosotta-ciutaperchdataperscontata,ciochesitrattidiundispositivodi comunicazioneodiregistrazionecheintervieneneirapportisociali conquellacaratteristicaefficaciasimbolicachepropriadeisegni.I testisonorilevantinellavitasocialenonsolopercichesonomate-rialmente, ma per la loro capacit di richiamare altro da s, secondo la celebredefinizioneagostinianadelsegnocomealiquidproaliquo; cio di suscitare e far agire un livello semantico, un piano del contenu-to che agisce in maniera non casuale, non puramente psicologica e as-sociativa, ma convenzionale, normata e regolare sulla mente delle per-sone. Ingeneralelecittnonsonoconsiderateinquestamaniera.Come abbiamo visto in parte anche allinizio, altre funzionalit sono in gene-re considerate pi rilevanti e certamente pi discriminanti: labitare, il produrre,loscambiodeimercati,laggregazionedellepersoneela circolazione dei materiali necessari alla loro esistenza, la difesa dai pe-ricoliesterni,iritualisacriecosvia.Proporsidianalizzarelacitt come un testo significa dunque innanzitutto mettere tra parentesi que-stefunzioni(noncertonegarlesemmaifarneastrazione,masoloin parte come vedremo). In positivo vuol dire concentrarsi sulla capacit e sulle modalit specifiche di comunicazione che si esercitano su ogni citt e di cui essa stessa in diversi modo soggetto e in particolare sul-lasuacapacitdiveicolaresenso,diprodurreazionisuchileabita nonsemplicementeattraversoiproprivincolifisici(comeimuriche materialmentesbarranocertipercorsi),maancheponendoobblighi, divieti,possibilitcomesensidelluogo(peresempioipercorsireli-giosi, turistici e di shopping, le regole della circolazione, ecc.: vincoli non puramente fisici, anche se incorporati fisicamente in una segnale-tica). PREFAZIONE 14 Senza dubbio un flusso di comunicazione, una densit di senso, ne-gli ambienti urbani esiste e non difficile cogliere un gradiente di in-tensit, quantit e qualit che li contrapponeallesterno.Lesperienza dellarrivo e dellingresso in citt dai suburbi stata pi volte descritta inmolteopereletterarieesiqualificasemprecomeunintensifica-zione,anchespaesanterispettoallesterno,dellinfluenzareciproca, deivincolisociali,delfrastuono,dellattivitdellepersone,dellase-gnaletica,deglistimoliestetici,deiricordiedeiluoghisacricolletti-vamentemarcati(monumenti),ecc.,ciosostanzialmentecomeun gradiente comunicativo che subentra alla quiete della campagna cir-costante. Nonvidubbiodunquechelacittsiaunteatrodiazionioun ambiente comunicativo molto denso. Un contenitore dai contenuti se-manticamente molto ricchi. Ma questa capacit di ospitare comunica-zionenefadavverountesto?Televisionispente,telenondipinte, quaderni non scritti possiedono forse una qualche testualit, se non al-tro dellordine della virtualit negata della comunicazione; ma si tratta di una testualit certamente assai povera, bench vi sia stato chi ha so-stenuto che Il medium il messaggio (McLuhan, 1964; vale la pena dirichiamarequiilrapportoimportantediquestoautoreconiltema dellacitt,senonaltroattraversolinfluenzadisolitoinsufficiente-mentesottolineatadiLewisMumford[peresempio1961]eHarold Innis [soprattutto 1950]). Senza entrare qui nel merito delle tesi mediologiche di McLuhan, il fatto per che i dispositivi di cui abbiamo parlato sono innanzitutto dei supporti, cio degli oggetti che presentano una qualche superficie di iscrizione: se essa non usata, essi sussistono vuoti e poveri di sen-so attuale. Senza dubbio per la citt non ha questa caratteristica: essa non si pu distinguere dalla sua eventuale iscrizione. Essa gi in s significativa, sempre gi una scrittura, comunque sia, a prescindere da quantacomunicazionevivengaproiettatasopra.Lacittuntesto, non un mezzo di comunicazione da riempire. La citt non si identifica conlasuasegnaleticaeneppureconlanimazionedellefollechela percorrono o dei commerci che vi si svolgono. Certamente esistono le citt vuote, non solo le tracce archeologiche, ma anche le ghost town ancora quasi intatte come quelle lasciate dalla corsa alloro in Califor-nia (cfr. per esempio Piatt, 2003); ma leffetto comunicazione che le Il testo della citt Problemi metodologici e teorici (Ugo Volli) Lexia, 12/2008 15 avvolge,senzapersonendiscorsivivi,puessererarefattomanon sparisce. Anche le citt vuote sono iscritte. Visonodiversimodiperprovareacaratterizzarequestoeffettodi comunicazione,analizzandoneilfunzionamento,eprobabilmente vannousatituttiassiemepercoglierelacomplessitdelloggetto.Ne citoalcuni.Altrove(Volli,2005)hosottolineatolimportanzadiun criteriocronologico.Lecittingenerehannociclidivitamoltolun-ghi, che in alcune aree come il bacino del Mediterraneo, la mezzaluna fertile medioorientale o certe zone della Cina si possono misurare in parecchiemigliaiadanni.Alcunecaratteristichefondamentalidelle citt,comelorientamentodibasedellaretestradale,lorografiaela presenzadicorsidacquaconleloroconseguenzeintermini dellindividuazione delle zone centrali e delle loro difese o ancora cer-ti edifici e luoghi particolarmente cospicui hanno la stessa durata. Edi-fici, strade e monumenti hanno una durata che tipicamente pu essere di un ordine di grandezza inferiore (centinaia danni); facciate, alberi e decorazionivariedidecinedanni;segnaletiche,insegne,negozied elementi di arredo urbano possono durare anni; i contenuti delle ve-trine,imanifesti,lescritteeglistriscionimesiosettimane,finoalla presenza effimera ma significativa di persone e mezzi che si misura in minuti. La citt vive nella sovrapposizione di tutti questi diversi ritmi, chesiinfluenzanoavicenda.Ognisguardosituatoinunmomento preciso li coglie tutti contemporaneamente, come in una sezione. importantecapirecheperciascunodiquestisistemidielementi vale il principio enunciatodaRolandBarthesper cui, in un ambiente sociale (qual per eccellenza la citt) ogni cosa diventa segno del suo usopossibile,quindiassumeunasortadisecondanaturacomunicati-va. Una strada indica la propria funzione di collegamento, oltre a eser-citarla,unedificiosistrutturaquasisempreinmododapermetterea chi vi passa davanti ed fornito di normale competenza di sapere se una fabbrica o una chiesa, un castello o una scuola. Dunque ledificio si dice e parla della funzione sociale che vi si esercita (la giustizia e la preghiera, il potere militare e il lavoro) definendo i suoi valori. I ritmi diversi delle strutture urbane corrispondono naturalmente ad analoghitempidellalorocomunicazione.Dinuovo,peressisono colti in sezione, tutti assieme a partire da uno sguardo prospetticamen-PREFAZIONE 16 tesituato.Lacittvadunquepensataneiterminidiunapolifoniadi sensiestremamentecomplessaecontinuamentemodificata.Bisogna considerareancheche,letteralmente,questioggetticaratterizzatida diversi ritmi comunicativi si sovrappongono e spesso si coprono a vi-cenda. La base materiale dellarcheologia il fatto che le strutture ur-bane si stratificano in maniera temporalmente ordinata. Ma anche nel presente manifesti e striscioni, per esempio, ricoprono le facciate che avvolgonolestrutture degliedifici, nelle quali sono contenuti arreda-menticheospitanovitequotidianedipersoneeattivitproduttive. Possiamodunqueparlaredipalinsestiperanalogiaallepergamene su cui si sovrappongono diversi testi. Alla gerarchia temporale si pu accostare dunque in maniera almeno parzialmente coerente una gerar-chia spaziale degli elementi significativi che costituiscono la citt co-me testo. Questo un terzo criterio di organizzazione della comunica-zione urbana, dopo quello dei ritmi temporali e delle funzioni rappre-sentate. Dueavvertenzemetodologichesiimpongonoperaquestopunto. Laprimaindicailrischiocheovviamenteconsiderandolaseconda naturacomunicativadicosecomecase,arredi,fortezze,indumenti, facciate noi non teniamo conto della loro natura primaria di luoghi di abitazione o di difesa, oggetti duso, coperture corporee o mezzi di i-solamento di locali. Questa messa fra parentesi certamente una pos-sibilit, molto spesso una necessit metodologica, ma essa non signifi-cacertamentenegarequestefunzionalitmateriali,benssemplice-menteprendereinconsiderazioneaparteilmodoincuiquestefun-zioni si rappresentano rispetto ai loro utenti e spettatori occasionali. Valelapenadinotareaquestopuntochedifficiletrovarenella storiaenellageografiadellecitt,esempiincuiquestadimensione comunicativanonsiapresaincontoedesplicitamenteperseguita,a tuttiilivelli.questattivitdiprevisione,calcolo,direalizzazione delladimensionecomunicativadellepidiversestruttureurbaneche intendiamo parlando di scrittura urbana (o di riscrittura, quando la sovrapposizione spaziale e temporale abbia le caratteristiche di riuso e rifacimento programmato). Vedremo fra poco che essa dipende forte-mentedallesterioritchecaratterizzasemprelastrutturaurbana(co-me del resto i testi: Volli, 2008). Il testo della citt Problemi metodologici e teorici (Ugo Volli) Lexia, 12/2008 17 La seconda osservazione consiste nel fatto che buona parte dei ma-nufatti che abbiamo indicati come portatori della testualit urbana so-nooggettiautonomichepossonoessereconsideratianchecometesti indipendenti. In realt questa una situazione abbastanza frequente in ogni tipo di testualit: si pensi per esempio a un giornale, testo diacro-nico composto di singoli numeri, in cui possiamo distinguere sezioni, pagine,rubriche,articoli,titoli,illustrazioni,didascalie,pubblicit, chesonoalorovoltaperlopimanifestazionitestualicomplessee scomponibili.Lostessovaleperlacoerenzadiunamarcarispettoai suoiprodotti,diunaretetelevisivarispettoallesingoletrasmissioni, dellarredamento di un locale, ecc. Ilproblemadistabilireloggettotestualechecisiproponedia-nalizzare una questione pratica della ricerca, che spesso viene in-dicata con letichetta del ritaglio o decoupage del testo. In termi-nimoltogenerali,ragionevoleaffermarechehasensoipotizzare lutilit di ricorrere a un testo di ordine superiore se si suppone che visiaunacoerenzafraitestiinferiori,unaretediisotopiecheli omologhinoechefaccianoschelaloroeffettivacapacitdipro-durresensodipendafortementedalcontestoincuisonocollocati. Inaltritermini,quandoiltestosuperioredicedipideisuoi componenti.Questocertamenteilcasodeigiornali,dellarreda-mento,maloanchedellecitt:bastapensareaeffetticomeipa-norami, le skylines, i colori e gli stili prevalenti, le interazioni fra i monumenti e in genere il carattere di una certa citt, che spesso facilmentericonosciutodaisuoiutenti,finoadiventareluogoco-mune turistico, cartolina. Da quel che si detto finora risulta chiaro che tentare di analizzare le citt in termini testuali non significa affatto presupporre lesistenza di un qualche linguaggio urbano unitario e autonomo, n tantomeno di un numero pi o meno vasto di elementi minimi specifici che lo ca-ratterizzerebbero specificamente, come si voleva un tempo. lintrec-cioelinterazioneestremamentericcadialtreformetestualiarealiz-zare la comunicazione urbana. Perquestaragionelascritturadellecitt,olaloroprogettazione, riguardasempreinconcretoglioggettiminorichelecompongono (strade,piazze,edifici,segnaletiche)inrarissimicasidifondazione programmata (Brasilia, Pienza, ecc.) anche la loro collocazione e il lo-PREFAZIONE 18 roorientamento.Ancheaquestopropositosiimpongonodellepreci-sazioni ulteriori. Laprimastanelfattochedalpuntodivistadellacomunicazione della citt (non certo del suo funzionamento materiale), quel che conta soprattutto lesteriorit delle sue parti. lorganizzazione delle fac-ciate,nonlinternodellecaseedeiluoghidilavoro,laspettodelle piazze, non ci che il loro pavimento nasconde, la molteplice segnale-ticachecostituiscelostratopiesterioredellarredourbanoadeter-minare in buona parte il funzionamento comunicativo della citt. Ma chiarochequestascritturaesternadeterminainbuonapartelaper-cezione e lapprezzamento estetico dellambiente urbano.Dunque non si tratta affatto di una superficie decorativa senza va-lore,percitareunanotatesifunzionalistadellarchitetturarazionali-stadelsecoloscorso.Enonhasensopensareinquestocasoaforme cheseguanopacificamentelefunzioni:unachiesaounpalazzonon sonosololuoghiutiliperpregareoperilfunzionamentopersonaleo burocratico del potere; esse servono altrettanto e forse di pi a segna-larne limportanza, a produrre reverenza e timore, o sicurezza e prote-zione. La stessa differenziazione dellambiente urbano che d identit uniche e inconfondibili alle grandi citt darte italiane ed europee in buonapartedovutaallesuperficiesterneenonallestrutturechene sonodelimitate.Lascritturadellacitthaquindiuncaratteresempre esteriore e, come si accennava sopra, di unesteriorit sovrapponibile. Questofatto,insiemealsistemadelleduratetemporalicuisiac-cennava sopra, fa s che la scrittura urbana sia per sua natura quasi es-senzialeunariscrittura,unaggiungereosovrapporrestratidisenso, un togliere, un riempire, un rettificare che si sovrappone allorganismo preesistentemodificandolocontinuamenteinparte.Questofenomeno della riscrittura compiuto insomma costantemente in forma di brico-lage,lavorandosumaterialipreesistenti:unacasaridipintaconun colore pi adeguato (al momento); le sue pareti sono deturpate (o ar-ricchite,asecondodeipuntidivista)dagraffiti,scritte,affissioni pubblicitarie. Nelle sue mura si aprono negozi che portano vetrine, in-segne, altri materiali pubblicitari. Di fronte ad essa si affollano le au-tomobiliparcheggiate,imercatirionali,igruppidipersonechepas-seggiano o manifestano. Una casa abbattuta e al suo posto si apre un Il testo della citt Problemi metodologici e teorici (Ugo Volli) Lexia, 12/2008 19 giardino,osenecostruisceunaltra.Unastradaprolungata,delle mura abbattute lasciano lo spazio per viali e parchi. Si erigono statue e affiggono lapidi. Si piantano alberi, siepi, aiuole; si erigono palizzate e si espongono cartelli. Tuttoquestocontinuobricolagedellapparenzaurbanaregolato da tre limiti molto diversi fra loro. Uno lesistenza di abitudini, tec-nologie, materiali che rendono certe apparenze molto pi probabili di altreeconcifondadelleisotopie.Materialicomeilcottoinbuona parte della pianura padana, il legno dei villaggi alpini, la pietra bianca veronese e trentina; tecnologie come larco a tutto sesto romano, le co-lonne greche, i contrafforti gotici, il cemento armato moderno segnano profondamentelapparenzadiunacitt.Ecospuresceltecollettive che si traducono nella prevalenza di portici, merli, facciate decorate o meno. Lasecondaforza,chespessonederivalaregolazionedaparte dellautoritsuforme,materiali,coloridellestruttureurbane,chedi-venta progressivamente pi stringente in Europa fino al sistema di au-torizzazioni attuali. I limiti di altezza degli edifici che caratterizzano le citt storiche italiane, ma anche luniformit del colore di certe citt ne derivano fortemente.Infinevisonointerventidirettidelpoterepolitico:grandistrutture di servizio come ponti e strade, palazzi rappresentativi e chiese, grandi scelte urbanistiche, ma anche (al confine col punto precedente) la co-struzionedicontestiomogeneicomePlaceVendmeePlaceRoyale (des Vosges) a Parigi, San Marco a Venezia, numerosi spazi urbani to-rinesi. Un esempio particolarmente significativo quello di operazioni diarredourbanouniformeeprogrammato,specienelcasodigrandi eventi come sono state le Olimpiadi torinesi del 2006. Tuttavia di solito le grandi forze in gioco per disegnare limmagine dellacittsonopidunaesifronteggiano,comespessonellecitt italianesiconfrontanolachiesaeilpalazzocomunaleosignorile,o oggi il potere pubblico e quello dei proprietari di aree e imprenditori. Ancor pi spesso accade che tale confronto avvenga al di l del tem-po,fraillascitodiepochediverse:lerovineromaneeilpalazzosi-gnorileelapiazzadelmercatoeisegnidellamodernaciviltindu-striale,checonfermanoladimensioneditessutodeltestourbano,la PREFAZIONE 20 sua intrinseca pluralit. Salvo che in rari casi di interventi violentissi-mi (come quelli compiuti da Ceausescu a Bucarest) difficile anche al pi assoluto dei poteri cancellare interamente le tracce del passato dal volto della citt e dunque eliminarne la polisemia. Anche gli interventi dautorit in realt rientrano nella dimensione della riscrittura secondo il bricolage. Anche nei pi raffinati e armoniosi tessuti urbani bisogna dunque saper cogliere la trama polemica (e dunque narrativa, secondo una tesi fondamentaledellasemiotica).IgrattacielidiNewYorkcidevono parlare della concorrenza come in un contesto del tutto diverso le torri diBolognaodiSanGimignano.LafortezzachesovrastaVolterra dando le spalle al Palazzo Comunale ci dice del dominio mediceo che abol il Comune, il rapporto fra Duomo e Palazzo Reale a Torino ci fa capirelerelazionifraStatoeChiesacomelestratificazionidiAghia Sofia a Costantinopoli quelle fra Cristianit, Islam e Stato laico. Parte diquesticonflittiurbanisonotaciti evannointerpretatiallumedella storia; ma parte sono assolutamente dichiarati: operazioni fatte per si-gnificare esplicitamente e programmaticamente prese del potere e pre-domini, come Via della Conciliazione a Roma o Via Roma a Torino. Queste tre forze assieme sono comunque decisive nella costruzione dellimmaginecoerentedellacitt,invecedellaspettocaoticoanche sulpianocomunicativochesarebbeilfruttonaturalediunbricolage non organizzato. Concludendo, le citt certamente non sono testi primari allo stesso mododellelapidiaffisseailoromuriolestatuecheeventualmente decoranoleloropiazze.Malaletturatestualedellecittpermettedi cogliere un carico comunicativo particolarmente complesso e articola-to.Checisioccupidelleragionipercuilecittsonoplasmateinun certo modo o della maniera in cui cittadini, immigranti, turisti le inter-pretano, difficile fare a meno delle grandi metafore testualiste e delle linee di ricerca che esse evocano. Il testo della citt Problemi metodologici e teorici (Ugo Volli) Lexia, 12/2008 21 Riferimenti bibliografici Aa.Vv. (1996),La pianificazione del paesaggio e lecologia della citt, Alinea, Fi-renze. Benveniste . (1969), Le Vocabulaire des institutions indo-europennes, Ed. du Mi-nuit, Parigi. Camagni R. (2002), rincipi di economia urbana e territoriale, Carocci, Roma. Choay F. (1973), Le citt. Utopie e realt, 2 voll., Einaudi, Torino. Colombo F., Ruggero E. (1996), Il testo visibile, Carocci, Roma. Evans A.W. (1998), Economia urbana, il Mulino, Bologna. Franceschi F. (1977), Teologia della citt: condizioni e modalit della presenza dei cristiani nella citt, LDC, Torino. HeideggerM.(1954),VotrgeundAfstze,GunterNeskeVerlag;trad.it.Saggie discorsi, Mursia, Milano 1976. Innis H. (1950), Empire and Communications, Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK. Lucarelli, M.T. (2006), Lambiente dellorganismo citt. Strategie e sperimentazioni per una nuova qualit urbana, Alinea, Firenze. Mattelart Armand (2000), Historia de la utopa planetaria: de la ciudad proftica a la sociedad global, Paids, Barcelona-Mxico. McLuhanM.(1964),UnderstandingMediaTheExtensionsofMan,trad.it.Gli strumenti del comunicare, Il Saggiatore, Milano. Montuschi E. (1993), Le metafore scientifiche, Franco Angeli, Milano. MumfordL. (1961), TheCityinHistory Its Origins,ItsTransformations,and Its Prospects, Harcourt, Brace & World, New York. Olivetti A. (2001), Citt delluomo, Einaudi, Torino. PiattM.H.(2003),Bodie:TheMinesAreLookingWell.NorthBayBooks,El Sobrante (CA). Volli U. (2005), Laboratorio di semiotica, Laterza, RomaBari. (2008), Lezioni di filosofia della comunicazione, Laterza, RomaBari. PREFAZIONE 22 23 Parte I LA CITT COME LIMITE:CONFINI, CONFINAMENTI, SCONFINAMENTI PREFAZIONE 24 25 Reading the City in a Global Digital AgeThe Limits of Topographic Representation SASKIA SASSEN* Understandingacitythroughitsbuilttopographyisincreasingly inadequate when global and digital forces are part of the urban condi-tion.Whatwemightcallthetopographicmomentisacriticalanda large component of the representation of cities. But it cannot incorpo-rate the fact of globalization and digitization as part of the representa-tionoftheurban.Norcanitcriticallyengagetodaysdominantac-counts about globalization and digitization, accounts which evict place and materiality even though the former are deeply imbricated with the material and the local and hence with that topographic moment. A key analyticmovethatbridgesbetweentheseverydiversedimensionsis to capture the possibility that particular components of a citys topog-raphy can be spatializations of global and digital dynamics and forma-tions; such particular topographic components would then be one site inamultisitedcircuitornetwork.Suchspatializationsdestabilizethe meaningofthelocalorthesited,andtherebyofthetopographicun-derstanding of cities. This holds probably especially for global cities. My concern in this essay is to distinguish between the topographic representation of key aspects of the city and an interpretation of these sameaspectsintermsofspatializedglobaleconomic,political,and cultural dynamics1. This is one analytic path into questions about cities in a global digital age. It brings a particular type of twist to the discus- * Columbia University. 1 These are all complex and multifaceted subjects. It is impossible to do full justice to them or to the literatures they have engendered. I have elaborated on both the subjects and the litera-tures elsewhere (Sassen 2008: chapters 7 and 8). PARTE I LA CITT COME LIMITE 26 siononurbantopographyandcitiessinceglobalizationanddigitisa-tion are both associated with dispersal and mobility. The effort is then to understand what analytic elements need to be developed in order to compensate for or remedy the limits of topographic representations for makinglegiblethepossibilitythatatleastsomeglobalanddigital componentsgetspatializedincities.Amongsuchcomponentsare boththepowerprojectsofmajorglobaleconomicactorsbutalsothe political projects of contestatory actors, e.g. electronic activists. A to-pographic representation of rich and poor areas of a city would simply capture the physical conditions of each advantage and disadvantage. It wouldfailtocapturetheelectronicconnectivitypossiblymarking even poor areas as locations on global circuits. Once this spatialization of various global and digital components is made legible, the richness oftopographicanalysiscanaddtoourunderstandingofthisprocess. Thechallengeistolocateandspecifythefactofsuchspatializations and its variability. Thisbringsupasecondsetofissues:topographicrepresentations of the built environment of cities tend to emphasize the distinctiveness ofthevarioussocioeconomicsectors:thedifferencesbetweenpoor andrichneighborhoods,betweencommercialandmanufacturingdis-tricts, and so on. While valid, this type of representation of a city be-comesparticularlypartialwhen,asishappeningtoday,agrowing shareofadvancedeconomicsectorsalsoemploysignificantnumbers ofverylowwageworkersandsubcontracttofirmsthatdonotlook liketheybelongintheadvancedcorporatesector;similarly,the growth of high income professional households has generated a whole newdemandforlowwagehousehold workers, connecting expensive residentialareaswithpoorerones,andplacingtheseprofessional households on global carechains that bringin many of the cleaners, nannies and nurses from poorer countries. In brief, economic restruc-turingisproducingmultipleinterconnectionsamongpartsofthecity thattopographicallylookliketheymayhavelittletodowitheach other.Givensomeofthesocioeconomic,technical,andculturaldy-namicsofthecurrentera,topographicrepresentationsmaywellbe more partial today than in past phases. The limitations of topographic representations of the city to capture thesetypesofinterconnectionsbetweentheglobalandtheurban, Reading the City in a Global Digital Age (Saskia Sassen) Lexia, 12/2008 27 and between socioeconomic areas of a city that appear as completely unrelatedcallsforanalytictoolsthatallowustoincorporatesuch interconnections in spatial representations of cities. Some of these in-terconnections have long existed. What is different today is their mul-tiplication,theirintensity,theircharacter.Someelementsoftopog-raphic representation, such as transport systems and water and sewage pipes,havelongcapturedparticularinterconnections.Whatisdiffer-ent today in this regard is the sharpening of nonphysical interconnec-tions,suchassocialanddigitalinterconnections,perhapsalsopoint-ingtoadeepertransformationinthelargersocial,economicand physicalorders.Topographicrepresentationsremaincritical,butare increasingly insufficient. One way of addressing these conditions is to uncovertheinterconnectionsbetweenurbanformsandurbanfrag-ments, and between orders the global and the urban, the digital and the urban that appear as unconnected. This is one more step for un-derstandingwhatourlargecitiesareabouttodayandinthenearfu-ture, and what constitutes their complexity. 1. Spatialized Power Projects Cities have long been key sites for the spatialization of power pro-jectswhetherpolitical,religious,oreconomic.Therearemultiple instancesthatcapturethis.Wecanfinditinthestructuresandinfra-structuresforcontrolandmanagementfunctionsofpastcolonialem-piresandofcurrentglobalfirmsandmarkets.Wecanalsofinditin thesegregationofpopulationgroupsthatcanconsequentlybemore easily produced as either cheap labor or surplus people; in the choice of particular built forms used for representing and symbolic cleansing of economic power, as in the preference for Greek temples to house stock markets; and we can find it in what we designate today as highincomeresidentialandcommercialgentrification,aprocessthatal-lowscitiestoaccommodatetheexpandingeliteprofessionalclasses, withtheinevitabledisplacementoflowerincomehouseholdsand firms.Finally,wecanseeitinthelargescaledestructionofnatural environmentstoimplantparticularformsofurbanizationmarkedby spreadratherthandensityandlinkedtospecificrealestatedevelop-PARTE I LA CITT COME LIMITE 28 ment interests, such as the uncontrolled stripdevelopment and subur-banization that shaped the Los Angeles region. Yettheparticulardynamicsandcapacitiescapturedbytheterms globalizationanddigitizationsignalthepossibilityofamajortrans-formationinthisdynamicofspatialization.Thedominantinterpreta-tion posits that digitization entails an absolute disembedding from the materialworld.Keyconceptsinthedominantaccountaboutthe globaleconomyglobalization,informationeconomy,andtelemat-icsallsuggestthatplacenolongermatters.Andtheysuggestthat the type of place represented by major cities may have become obso-lete from the perspective of the economy, particularly for leading sec-tors,suchasinformationeconomysectorsandfinance,asthesehave thebestaccessto,andarethemostadvancedusersof,telematics. Theseareaccountsthatprivilegethefactofinstantaneousglobal transmissionovertheconcentrationsofbuiltinfrastructurethatmake transmission possible; information outputs over the work of producing thoseoutputs,fromspecialiststosecretaries;andthenewtransna-tional corporate culture over the multiplicity of cultural environments, including reterritorialized immigrant cultures, within which many of the other jobs of the global information economy take place2. One consequence of such a representation of the global information economy as placeless would be that there is no longer a spatialization ofthistypeofpowertoday:ithassupposedlydispersedgeographi-cally and gone partly digital. It is this proposition that I have contested inmuchofmywork,arguingthatthisdispersalisonlypartofthe storyandthatweseeinfactnewtypesofspatializationsofpower. How do we reintroduce place in economic analysis? And, how do we constructanewnarrativeabouteconomicglobalization,onethatin-cludes rather than excludes all the spatial, economic, and cultural ele-ments that are part of the urban global economy as it is constituted in cities and the increasingly structured networks of which they are part? A topographic reading would introduce place yet, in the end, it would 2 The eviction of these activities and workers from the dominant representation of the global informationeconomy,hastheeffectofexcludingthevarietyofculturalcontextswithinwhich they exist, a cultural diversity that is as much a presence in processes of globalisation as is the new international corporate culture. Reading the City in a Global Digital Age (Saskia Sassen) Lexia, 12/2008 29 failtocapturethefactthatglobaldynamicsmightinhabitlocalized built environments. 2. Analytic Borderlands Asapoliticaleconomist,addressingtheseissueshasmeantwork-ing in several systems of representation and constructing spaces of in-tersection. There are analytic moments when two systems of represen-tationintersect.Suchanalyticmomentsareeasilyexperiencedas spaces of silence, or of absence. One challenge is to see what happens inthosespaces,whatoperationstakeplacethere.InmyownworkI have had to deal frequently with these spaces of intersection and con-ceive of them as analytic borderlands an analytic terrain where dis-continuitiesareconstitutiveratherthanreducedtoadividingline. Thusmuchofmyworkoneconomicglobalizationandcitieshasfo-cusedonthesediscontinuitiesandhassoughttoreconstitutetheirar-ticulation analytically as borderlands rather than as dividing lines3. Methodologically,theconstructionoftheseanalyticborderlands pivots on what I call circuits for the distribution and installation of op-erations; I focus on circuits that cut across what are generally seen as twoormorediscontinuoussystems,institutionalorders,ordynam-ics. These circuits may be internal to a citys economy or be, perhaps at the other extreme, global. In the latter case, a given city is but one site on a circuit that may contain a few or many other such cities. And theoperationsthatgetdistributedthroughthesecircuitscanrange widely they can be economic, political, cultural, subjective. Circuitsinternaltoacityallowustofolloweconomicactivities intoterritoriesthatlieoutsidetheincreasinglynarrowbordersof mainstream representations of the urban economy and to negotiate the crossingofdiscontinuousspaces.Forinstance,itallowsustolocate variouscomponentsoftheinformaleconomy(whetherinNewYork 3 This produces a terrain within which these discontinuities can be reconstituted in terms of economic operations whose properties are not merely a function of the spaces on each side (i.e., a reduction to the condition of dividing line) but also, and most centrally, of the discontinuity it-self, the argument being that discontinuities are an integral part, a component, of the economic system. PARTE I LA CITT COME LIMITE 30 or Paris or Mumbay) on circuits that connect it to what are considered advanced industries, such as finance, design or fashion. A topographic representationwouldcapturetheenormousdiscontinuitybetweenthe placesandbuiltenvironmentsoftheinformaleconomyandthoseof the financial or design district in a city, but would fail to capture their complex economic interactions and dependencies. Internationalandtransnationalcircuitsallowustodetectthepar-ticularnetworksthatconnectspecificactivitiesinonecitywithspe-cific activities in cities in other countries. For instance, if one focuses on futures markets, cities such as London and Frankfurt are joined by Sao Paulo and Kuala Lumpur; if one looks at the gold market, all ex-ceptLondondropout,andZurich,JohannesburgandSydneyappear. Continuing along these lines, Los Angeles, for example, would appear as located on a variety of global circuits (including binational circuits with Mexico) which would be quite different from those of New York or Chicago. And a city like Caracas can be shown to be located on dif-ferent circuits than those of Bogota. Thisbringstotheforeasecondimportantissue.Wecanthinkof thesecitiesorurbanregionsascrisscrossedbythesecircuitsandas partial(onlypartial!)amalgamationsofthesevariouscircuits.AsI discusslater,someofthedisadvantagedsectorsinmajorcitiestoday arealsoforminglateralcrossborderconnectionswithsimilarly placed groups in other cities. These are networks that while global do notrunthroughaverticallyorganizedframingasdoes,forinstance, the network of affiliates of a multinational corporation or the country specific work of the IMF. For the city, these transnational circuits en-tail a type of fragmentation that may have always existed in major cit-ies but has now been multiplied many times over. Topographic repre-sentationswouldfailtocapturemuchofthisspatializationofglobal economic circuits, except, perhaps, for certain aspects of the distribu-tion/transport routes. 3. Sited Materialities and Global Span Itseemstomethatthedifficultyanalystsandcommentatorshave had in specifying or understanding the impact of digitization on cities Reading the City in a Global Digital Age (Saskia Sassen) Lexia, 12/2008 31 results from two analytic flaws. One of these (especially evident in the U.S.)confinesinterpretationtoatechnologicalreadingofthetechni-calcapabilitiesofdigitaltechnology.Thisisfineforengineers.But whenoneistryingtounderstandtheimpactsofatechnology,sucha readingbecomesproblematic4.Apurelytechnologicalreadingof technicalcapabilitiesofdigitaltechnologyinevitablyleadsonetoa placethatisanonplace,wherewecanannouncewithcertaintythe neutralizing of many of the configurations marked by physicality and placeboundedness, including the urban5. Thesecondflawisacontinuingrelianceonanalyticalcategoriza-tions that were developed under other spatial and historical conditions, that is, conditions preceding the current digital era. Thus the tendency is to conceive of the digital as simply and exclusively digital and the nondigital (whether represented in terms of the physical/material or the ac-tual, all problematic though common conceptions) as simply and exclu-sivelythat.Theseeither/orcategorizationsfilteroutthepossibilityof mediatingconditions,therebyprecludingamorecomplexreadingof the impact of digitization on material and placebound conditions. One alternative categorization captures imbrications6. Let me illus-trateusingthecaseoffinance.Financeiscertainlyahighlydigitized activity;yetitcannotsimplybethoughtofasexclusivelydigital.To haveelectronicfinancialmarketsanddigitizedfinancialinstruments requiresenormousamountsofmateriel,nottomentionpeople.This materielincludesconventionalinfrastructure,buildings,airports,and so on. Much of this materiel is, however, inflected by the digital. Con-versely, much of what takes place in cyberspace is deeply inflected by thecultures,thematerialpractices,theimaginaries,thattakeplace 4 An additional critical issue is the construct technology. One radical critique can be found in Latour, and his dictum that technology is society Made Durable (Latour, 1991; 1996). My po-sition on how to handle this construct in social science research is developed in Sassen, 2006, ch. 7; 2002. More generally see Mansell and Silverstone, 1998. 5 Another consequence of this type of reading is to assume that a new technology will ipso factoreplacealloldertechnologiesthatarelessefficient,orslower,atexecutingthetasksthe new technology is best at. We know that historically this is not the case. For a variety of critical examinations of the tendency towards technological determinism in much of the social sciences today see Wajcman, 2002; Howard and Jones, 2004; for particular applications that make legible the limits of these technologies in social domains see, e.g. Callon, 1998; Avgerou, Ciborra and Land, 2004; Cederman and Kraus, 2005; for cities in particular see Graham, 2004. 6 For a full development of this alternative see Sassen, 2006, chapters 7 and 8. PARTE I LA CITT COME LIMITE 32 outside cyberspace. Much, though not all, of what we think of when it comes to cyberspace would lack any meaning or referents if we were toexcludetheworldoutsidecyberspace.Inbrief,thedigitalandthe nondigitalarenotexclusiveconditionsthatstandoutsidethenondigital. Digital space is embedded in the larger societal, cultural, sub-jective,economic,imaginarystructurationsoflivedexperienceand the systems within which we exist and operate (Sassen, 1999)7. 4. Rescaling the Old Hierarchies Thecompleximbricationsbetweenthedigital(aswellasthe global) and the nondigital brings with it a destabilizing of older hier-archiesofscaleandoftendramaticrescalings.Asthenationalscale losessignificancealongwiththelossofkeycomponentsofthena-tional states formal authority over the national scale, other scales gain strategicimportance.Mostespeciallyamongthesearesubnational scalessuchastheglobalcityandsupranationalscalessuchasglobal markets or regional trading zones. There is by now a vast scholarship covering a range of dynamics and formations (e.g. Sun, 1999; Taylor etal.,2002;Taylor,2004;FuturAnterieur,1995;SchifferRamos, 2002;BarryandSlater,2002;FergusonandJones,2002;Brenner, 2004; Lebert, 2003; Glasius et al., 2002; Olesen, 2005). Older hierar-chies of scale that emerged in the historical context of the ascendance of the nationstate, continue to operate; they are typically organized in termsofinstitutionalsizefromtheinternational,downtothena-tional, the regional, the urban, down to the local. But they are destabi-lized because todays rescaling cuts across institutional size (e.g. Sun, 1999; Yeung, 2002; Urry, 2000; Brenner, 2004) and, through policies suchasderegulationandprivatization,alsocutsacrosstheinstitu-tionalencasementsofterritoryproducedbytheformationofnational states (Ferguson and Jones, 2002). This does not mean that the old hi- 7 There is a third variable that needs to be taken account of when addressing the question of digital space and networks, though it is not particularly relevant to the question of the city. It is the transformations in digital networks linked both to certain technical issues and the use of these networks (for critical accounts, see, e.g. Lovink, 2002; Rogers, 2004; MacKenzie and Wajcman, 1999; Mansell and Collins, 2005; Marres and Rogers, 2000). Reading the City in a Global Digital Age (Saskia Sassen) Lexia, 12/2008 33 erarchies disappear, but rather that rescalings emerge alongside the old ones, and that they can often trump the latter. These transformations entail complex imbrications of the digital and nondigitalandbetweentheglobalandthenonglobal(Sassen,2008: chapters7and8;Garcia,2002;Sack,2005;Graham,2004;Taylor, 2004).Theycanbecapturedinavarietyofinstances.Forexample, much of what we might still experience as the local (an office build-ing or a house or an institution right there in our neighborhood or down-town)actuallyissomethingIwouldratherthinkofasamicroenvi-ronment with global span insofar as it is deeply internetworked. Such a microenvironmentisinmanysensesalocalizedentity,somethingthat can be experienced as local, immediate, proximate and hence captured in topographic representations. It is a sited materiality. But it is also part ofglobaldigitalnetworkswhichgiveitimmediatefarflungspan.To continue to think of this as simply local is not very useful or adequate. Moreimportantly,thejuxtapositionbetweentheconditionofbeinga sited materiality and having global span captures the imbrication of the digitalandthenondigitalandillustratestheinadequacyofapurely technological reading of the technical capacities associated with digiti-zation. A technological reading would lead us to posit the neutralization oftheplaceboundednessofpreciselythatwhichmakespossiblethe conditionofbeinganentitywithglobalspan.Anditillustratesthein-adequacy of a purely topographical account. Asecondexampleisthebundleofconditionsanddynamicsthat marks the model of the global city. Just to single out one key dynamic: the more globalized and digitized the operations of firms and markets, themoretheircentralmanagementandcoordinationfunctions(and therequisitematerialstructures)becomestrategic.Itispreciselybe-causeofdigitizationthatsimultaneousworldwidedispersalofopera-tions(whetherfactories,offices,orserviceoutlets)andsysteminte-grationcanbeachieved.Anditispreciselythiscombinationwhich raisestheimportanceofcentralfunctions.Globalcitiesarestrategic sites for the combination of resources necessary for the production of these central functions8. 8 Theseeconomicglobalcityfunctionsaretobedistinguishedfrompoliticalglobalcity functions,which might include the politicsof contestation by formal and informal political ac-PARTE I LA CITT COME LIMITE 34 Much of what is liquefied and circulates in digital networks and is marked by hypermobility remains physical in some of its components. Take,forexample,thecaseofrealestate.Financialservicesfirms haveinventedinstrumentsthatliquefyrealestate,therebyfacilitating investment and circulation of these instruments in global markets. Yet, part of what constitutes real estate remains very physical. At the same time,however,thatwhichremainsphysicalhasbeentransformedby the fact that it is represented by highly liquid instruments that can cir-culateinglobalmarkets.Itmaylookthesame,itmayinvolvethe same bricks and mortar, it may be new or old, but it is a transformed entity. We have difficulty capturing this multivalence through our conven-tional categories: if it is physical, it is physical; and if it is digital, it is digital. In fact, the partial representation of real estate through liquid fi-nancial instruments produces a complex imbrication of the material and the dematerialized moments of that which we continue to call real es-tate.Anditispreciselybecauseofthedigitalcapabilitiesoftheeco-nomicsectorsrepresentedinglobalcitiesthatthemassiveconcentra-tions of material resources in these cities exist and keep expanding. Hypermobilityanddematerializationareusuallyseenasmere functionsofthenewtechnologies.Thisunderstandingerasesthefact that it takes multiple material conditions to achieve this outcome (e.g. Rutherford, 2004, Graham and Marvin, 2001), and that it takes social networks,notonlydigitalones(Garcia,2002;Sack,2005).Oncewe recognizethatthehypermobilityoftheinstrument,orthedematerializationoftheactualpieceofrealestate,hadtobeproduced, we introduce the imbrication of the digital and the nondigital. It takes capital fixity to produce capital mobility, that is to say, state of the art builtenvironments, conventional infrastructures from highways to airports and railways and wellhoused talent. These are all, at least partly, placebound conditions, even though the nature of their placeboundedness is going to be different from what it was 100 years ago, when placeboundedness was much closer to pure immobility. Today tors enabled by these economic functions. This particular form of political global city functions is, then, in a dialectical relation (both enabled and in opposition) to the economic functions (see Sassen, 2000; Bartlett, 2001). Reading the City in a Global Digital Age (Saskia Sassen) Lexia, 12/2008 35 itisaplaceboundednessthatisinflected,andinscribedbythehy-permobility of some of its components, products, and outcomes. Both capital fixity and mobility are located in a temporal frame where speed isascendantandconsequential.Thistypeofcapitalfixitycannotbe fullycapturedinadescriptionofitsmaterialandlocationalfeatures, i.e. in a topographical reading. Conceptualizingdigitizationandglobalizationalongtheselines createsoperationalandrhetoricalopeningsforrecognizingtheongo-ingimportanceofthematerialworldeveninthecaseofsomeofthe most dematerialized activities9. 5. The Spatialities of the Center Informationtechnologieshavenoteliminatedtheimportanceof massiveconcentrationsofmaterialresourcesbuthave,rather,recon-figuredtheinteractionofcapitalfixityandhypermobility.Thecom-plex management of this interaction has given some cities a new com-petitive advantage (Sassen, 2001). The vast new economic topography thatisbeingimplementedthroughelectronicspaceisonemoment, onefragment,ofanevenvastereconomicchainthatisingoodpart embedded in nonelectronic spaces. There is today no fully virtualized firm or economic sector. As I suggested earlier, even finance, the most digitized, dematerialized and globalized of all activities has a topogra-phythatweavesbackandforthbetweenactualanddigitalspace.To differentextentsindifferenttypesofsectorsanddifferenttypesof firms,afirmstasksnowaredistributedacrossthesetwokindsof spaces.Further,theactualconfigurationsaresubjecttoconsiderable transformation, as tasks are computerized or standardized, markets are further globalized, and so on. Thecombinationofthenewcapabilitiesformobilityalongwith patternsofconcentrationandoperationalfeaturesofthecuttingedge sectorsofadvancedeconomiessuggeststhatspatialconcentrationre- 9 A critical issue, not addressed here, concerns some of the features of digital networks, no-tably their governance (e.g. Robinson, 2004; Drake, 2004; Koopmans, 2004; Klein, 2004; Ben-nett, 2003; Mansell and Collins, 2005). These networks are not neutral technical events (see also the issues raised in footnote 6 above).PARTE I LA CITT COME LIMITE 36 mains as a key feature of these sectors. But it is not simply a continua-tion of older patterns of spatial concentration. Today there is no longer asimpleorstraightforwardrelationbetweencentralityandsuchgeo-graphicentitiesasthedowntownorthecentralbusinessdistrict (CBD). In the past, and up to quite recently in fact, centrality was syn-onymouswiththedowntownortheCBD.Thenewtechnologiesand organizational forms have altered the spatial correlates of centrality10. Giventhedifferentialimpactsofthecapabilitiesofthenewinfor-mationtechnologiesonspecifictypesoffirmsandofsectorsofthe economy,thespatialcorrelatesofthecentercanassumeseveral geographicforms,likelytobeoperatingsimultaneouslyatthemacro level. Thus the center can be the CBD, as it still is largely for some of theleadingsectors,notablyfinance,oranalternativeformofCBD, suchasSiliconValley.YetevenastheCBDinmajorinternational business centers remains a strategic site for the leading industries, it is oneprofoundlyreconfiguredbytechnologicalandeconomicchange (Fainstein,2001;CiccolellaandMignaqui,2002;SchifferRamos, 2002)andbylongtermimmigration(e.g.Laguerre,2000).Further, there are often sharp differences in the patterns assumed by this recon-figuring of the central city in different parts of the world (Marcuse and van Kempen, 2000). Second, the center can extend into a metropolitan area in the form of a grid of nodes of intense business activity. One might ask whether aspatialorganizationcharacterizedbydensestrategicnodesspread over a broader region does in fact constitute a new form of organizing theterritoryofthecenter,ratherthan,asinthemoreconventional view,aninstanceofsuburbanizationorgeographicdispersal.Insofar asthesevariousnodesarearticulatedthroughdigitalnetworks,they representanewgeographiccorrelateofthemostadvancedtypeof center.Thisisapartlydeterritorializedspaceofcentrality(Peraldi andPerrin,1996;MarcuseandvanKempen,2000;Grahamand Marvin, 2001; Scott, 2001). 10 Several of the organizinghypotheses in the global city model concern the conditions for thecontinuityofcentralityinadvancedeconomicsystemsinthefaceofmajorneworganiza-tionalformsandtechnologiesthatmaximizethepossibilityforgeographicdispersal.Seethe new Introduction in the updated edition of The Global City (Sassen, 2001). For a variety of per-spectives see, e.g. Landrieu et al., 1998; Rutherford, 2004; Abrahamson, 2004. Reading the City in a Global Digital Age (Saskia Sassen) Lexia, 12/2008 37 Third,weareseeingtheformationofatransterritorialcenter constituted via intense economic transactions in the network of global cities.Thesetransactionstakeplacepartlyindigitalspaceandpartly throughconventionaltransportandtravel.Theresultisamultiplica-tion of often highly specialized circuits connecting sets of cities (Tay-loretal.,2002;Taylor,2004;Yeung,2000;Schiffer,2002;Short, 2005; Harvey In Process); increasingly we see other types of networks built on those circuits, such as transnational migrant networks (Smith andGuarnizo,2001;EhrenreichandHochschild,2003).Thesenet-worksofmajorinternationalbusinesscentersconstitutenewgeogra-phiesofcentrality.Themostpowerfulofthesenewgeographiesof centralityatthegloballevelbindsthemajorinternationalfinancial and business centers: New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Frankfurt, Zu-rich,Amsterdam,LosAngeles,Sydney,HongKong,amongothers. ButthisgeographynowalsoincludescitiessuchasBangkok,Seoul, Taipei,SaoPaulo,MexicoCity,Shanghai.Inthecaseofacomplex landscape such as Europes, we see in fact several geographies of cen-trality, one global, others continental and regional. Fourth,newformsofcentralityarebeingconstitutedinelectroni-callygeneratedspaces.Forinstance,strategiccomponentsofthefi-nancialindustryoperateinsuchspaces.Therelationbetweendigital and actual space is complex and varies among different types of eco-nomic sectors (Sassen, 2008, chapter 7; Latham and Sassen, 2005), as well as within civil society sectors (Sack, 2005; Pace and Panganiban, 2002; Avgerou, 2002; Bach and Stark, 2005). 6. What Does Local Context Mean in this Setting? Firms operating partly in actual space and partly in globespanning digitalspacecannoteasilybecontextualizedintermsoftheirsur-roundings. Nor can the networked subeconomies they tend to consti-tute. The orientation of this type of subeconomy is simultaneously to-wardsitselfandtowardsalargerglobalmarket.Topographicrepre-sentations would fail to capture this global orientation. Theintensityoftransactionsinternaltosuchasubeconomy (whether global finance or cutting edge hightech sectors) is such that PARTE I LA CITT COME LIMITE 38 itoverridesallconsiderationsofthebroaderlocalityorurbanarea withinwhichitexists.Thesefirmsandsubeconomiesdevelopa stronger orientation towards global markets than to their immediately surroundingareas(e.g.Taylor,2004;Schiffer,2002;Yeung,2000). Insofarastheyareasignificantcomponentoftodayscities,this global orientation overrides a key proposition in the urban systems lit-erature,towit,thatcitiesandurbansystemsintegrateandarticulate nationalterritory.Suchanintegrationeffectmayhavebeenthecase duringtheperiodwhenmassmanufacturingandmassconsumption werethedominantgrowthmachinesindevelopedeconomiesand thrived on national scalings of economic processes. Today, the ascen-dance of digitized, globalized sectors, such as finance, has diluted that articulationwiththelargernationaleconomyandtheimmediatesur-rounding. The articulation of these subeconomies with other zones and sec-tors in their immediate sociospatial surroundings is of a special sort. Tosomeextentthereisconnectivity,butitislargelyconfinedtothe servicing of the leading sectors, and, further, this connectivity is partly obscuredbytopographicfragmentationinthecaseofmuchofthis servicing.Themostlegiblearticulationiswiththevarioushighly pricedservicesthatcatertotheworkforce,fromupscalerestaurants andhotelstoluxuryshopsandculturalinstitutions,typicallypartof thesociospatialorderofthesenewsubeconomies.Secondly,there are also various lowpriced services that cater to the firms and to the householdsoftheworkersandwhichrarelylookliketheyarepart of the advanced corporate economy. The demand by firms and house-holdsfortheseservicesactuallylinkstwoworldsthatwethinkofas radicallydistinctandthusunconnected.Butitisparticularlyathird instancethatconcernsmehere,thelargeportionsoftheurbansur-roundingthathavelittleconnectiontotheseworldmarketoriented subeconomies, even though they are physically proximate and might evenbearchitecturallysimilar.Itisthelasttwowhichengendera question about the insufficiency of topographic representation. Whatthenisthemeaningoflocalityundertheseconditions?The newnetworkedsubeconomyoccupiesastrategic,partlydeterritorial-izedgeographythatcutsacrossbordersandconnectsavarietyof pointsontheglobe.Itslocalinsertionaccountsforonlya(variable) Reading the City in a Global Digital Age (Saskia Sassen) Lexia, 12/2008 39 fraction of its total operations, its boundaries are not those of the city within which it is partly located, nor those of the local area where it is sited.Thissubeconomyinterfacesthe intensity of the vast concentra-tion of very material resources it needs when it hits the ground and the factofitsglobalspanorcrossbordergeography.Itsinterlocutoris not the surrounding context but the fact of the global. I am not sure what this tearing away of the context and its replace-mentwiththefactoftheglobalcouldmeanforurbanpracticeand theory. But it is clearly problematic from the perspective of urban to-pography.Theanalyticoperationcalledforisnotthesearchforits connection with the surroundings, the context. It is, rather, detecting itsinstallationinastrategiccrossbordergeographyconstituted throughmultiplelocals.Thelocalnowtransactsdirectlywiththe globalcrossborderstructurationsthatscaleatagloballevel;butthe global also inhabits localities and is partly constituted through a mul-tiplicity of local instantiations. 7. Cities as Frontier Zones: The Formation of New Political Actors Averydifferenttypeofcasecanbefoundinthegrowthofelec-tronic activism by often poor and rather immobile actors and organiza-tions.Topographicrepresentationsthatdescribefragmentations,par-ticularly the isolation of poor areas, may well obscure the existence of underlying interconnections. What presents itself as segregated or ex-cludedfromthemainstreamcoreofacitycanactuallybepartofin-creasinglycomplexinteractionswithothersimilarlysegregatedsec-torsincitiesofothercountries.Thereishere,aninterestingdynamic wheretopsectors(thenewtransnationalprofessionalclass)andbot-tom sectors (e.g. immigrant communities or activists in environmental orantiglobalizationstruggles)partlyinhabitacrossborderspace that connects particular cities. Majorcities,especiallyifglobal,containmultiplelowincomecommunities many of which develop or access various global networks. Through the Inter-net, local initiatives become part of a global network of activism without losing the focus on specific local struggles (e.g. Cleaver, 1998; Henshall, 2000; Mele, 1999;Donketal.,2005;Friedman,2005).ItenablesanewtypeofcrossPARTE I LA CITT COME LIMITE 40 border political activism, one centered inmultiple localities yet intensely con-nected digitally. This is in my view one of the key forms of critical politics that the Internet can make possible: A politics of the local with a big difference these are localities that are connected with each other across a region, a coun-try, or the world11. Because the network is global does not mean that it all has to happen at the global level. But also inside such cities we see the emergence of specific politi-calandsubjectivedimensionsthat are difficult to capture through to-pographicrepresentations(e.g.LovinkandRiemens,2002;Poster, 2004). Neither the emergence nor the difficulty are new. But I would arguethattherearetimeswherebothbecomesharpertimeswhen traditionalarrangementsbecomeunsettled.Todayissuchatime. Globalcitiesbecomeasortofnewfrontierzonewhereanenormous mix of people converge and new forms of politics are possible. Those wholackpower,thosewhoaredisadvantaged,outsiders,discrimi-nated minorities, can gain presence in global cities, presence visvis powerandpresencevisviseachother.Thissignals,forme,the possibility of a new type of politics centered in new types of political actors. It is not simply a matter of having or not having power. There are new hybrid bases from which to act. The space of the city is a far more concrete space for politics than thatofthenation.Itbecomesaplacewherenonformalpoliticalac-tors can be part of the political scene in a way that is much more diffi-cult at the national level. Nationally, politics needs to run through ex-isting formal systems: whether the electoral political system or the ju-diciary (taking state agencies to court). Nonformal political actors are renderedinvisibleinthespaceofnationalpolitics.Thespaceofthe cityaccommodatesabroadrangeofpoliticalactivitiessquatting, demonstrationsagainstpolicebrutality,fightingfortherightsofim-migrants and the homeless, the politics of culture and identity, gay and 11 I conceptualize these alternative circuits as countergeographies of globalization because they are deeply imbricated with some of the major dynamics constitutive of the global economy yet are not part of the formal apparatus or of the objectives of this apparatus. The formation of globalmarkets,theintensifyingoftransnationalandtranslocalbusinessnetworks,thedevel-opment of communication technologies which easily escape conventional surveillance practices: all of these produce infrastructures and architectures that can be used for other purposes, whether money laundering or alternative politics. Reading the City in a Global Digital Age (Saskia Sassen) Lexia, 12/2008 41 lesbian and queer politics. Much of this becomes visible on the street. Muchofurbanpoliticsisconcrete,enactedbypeople ratherthande-pendentonmassivemediatechnologies.Streetlevelpoliticsmakes possibletheformationofnewtypesofpoliticalsubjectsthatdonot have to go through the formal political system. Thelargecityoftoday,especiallytheglobalcity,emergesasa strategic site for these new types of operations. It is a strategic site for globalcorporatecapital.Butitisalsooneofthesiteswherethefor-mation of new claims by informal political actors materializes and as-sumesconcreteforms(Isin,2000;Torresetal.,1999;Lovinkand Riemenes, 2002). The loss of power at the national level produces the possibilityfornewformsofpowerandpoliticsatthesubnational level12.Thenationalascontainerofsocialprocessandpoweris cracked. This cracked casing then opens up possibilities for a geog-raphy of politics that linkssubnationalspaces and allows nonformal political actors to engage strategic components of global capital. Digital networks are contributing to the production of new kinds of interconnectionsunderlyingwhatappearasfragmentedtopographies, whetherattheglobaloratthelocallevel.Politicalactivistscanuse digital networks for global or nonlocal transactions and they can use them for strengthening local communications and transactions inside a city(e.g.LovinkandRiemens,2002)orruralcommunity(e.g. Cleaver, 1998). Recovering how the new digital technology can serve to support local initiatives and alliances across a citys neighborhoods is extremely important in an age where the notion of the local is often seenaslosinggroundtoglobaldynamicsandactorsanddigitalnet-works are typically thought of as global. What may appear as separate segregatedsectorsofacitymaywellhaveincreasinglystronginter-connectionsthroughparticularnetworksofindividualsandorganiza-tionswithsharedinterests(Espinoza,1999;TheJournalofUrban Technology,1995;Garcia,2002).Anylargecityistodaytraversed by these invisible circuits. 12 There are, of course, severe limitations on these possibilities, many having to do with the wayinwhichthesetechnologieshavecometobedeployed.SeeSassen,1999;Grahamand Aurigi, 1997; Hoffman and Novak, 1998; Latham and Sassen, 2005). PARTE I LA CITT COME LIMITE 42 8. Conclusion Economic globalization and digitization produce a spatiality for the urban that pivots on deterritorializedcrossborder networks and ter-ritorial locations with massive concentrations of resources. This is not a completely new feature. Over the centuries cities have been at the in-tersectionofprocesseswithsupraurbanandevenintercontinental scalings.Whatisdifferenttodayistheintensity,complexity,and global span of these networks, and the extent to which significant por-tionsofeconomiesarenowdigitizedandhencecantravelatgreat speeds through these networks. Also new is the growing use of digital networksbyoftenpoorneighborhoodorganizationstopursueavari-etyofbothintraandinterurbanpoliticalinitiatives.Allofthishas raised the number of cities that are part of crossborder networks op-erating at often vast geographic scales. Under these conditions, much of what we experience and represent as the local turns out to be a mi-croenvironment with global span. As cities and urban regions are increasingly traversed by nonlocal, includingnotablyglobalcircuits,muchofwhatweexperienceasthe local because locally sited, is actually a transformed condition in that itisimbricatdwithnonlocaldynamicsorisalocalizationofglobal processes. One way of thinking about this is in terms of spatializations ofvariousprojectseconomic,political,cultural.Thisproducesa specific set of interactions in a citys relation to its topography. The new urban spatiality thus produced is partial in a double sense: it accounts for only part of what happens in cities and what cities are about, and it inhabits only part of what we might think of as the space of the city, whether this be understood in terms as diverse as those of a citys administrative boundaries or in the sense of the multiple public imaginaries that may be present in different sectors of a citys people. If we consider urban space as productive, as enabling new configura-tions, then these developments signal multiple possibilities. Reading the City in a Global Digital Age (Saskia Sassen) Lexia, 12/2008 43 References Abrahamson M. (2004), Global Cities, Oxford University Press, New York and Ox-ford, UK. 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