Deterministic Footfalls

Here’s a fascinating RadioLab podcast on deep patterns in cityscapes, “Cities.”

After listening, follow it with a sip–a chaser–from Calvino’s Invisible Cities:

In vain, great-hearted Kublai, shall I attempt to describe Zaira, city of high bastions. I could tell you how many steps make up the streets rising like stairways, and the degree of the arcades’ curves, and what kind of zinc scales cover the roofs; but I already know this would be the same as telling you nothing. […] The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the corners of the streets, the gratings of windows, the banisters of the steps, the antennae of the lightning rods, the poles of the flags, every segment marked in turn with scratches, indentations, scrolls. (10-11)

1 Comment

  1. Hi, I have a question unrelated to your post. I was searching “Barbara Rogoff” in google and found your blog. I was wondering if you have any thoughts on how the cultural practices of communities may be impacted or incorporate use of technology like computers. Since you have read Rogoff’s book and are interested in technology, I imagine you may have already given this some thought.

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