Emerging Asian Cities
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The intent of this section is not to delve into the histories of these polarized landscapes, but to explore their legacies within the Asian context today. Have these seemingly hegemonic places been assimilated, critiqued, or rejected by the generations that have followed? What is the relevance of these hybridities in a time of increasing east-west exchange? Are these infusions little more than dormant symbols of a recent history, or integral cultural components that have been long absorbed into the Asian ethos?
While these essays collectively affirm the breadth and complexity of Asia’s East-West collisions, they also reveal the magical ability of Asian cities to absorb alien concepts and mutate them into new compounds and identities. Whether seen as painful yet essential processes for socio-economic progress, or irrevocable cultural destinies that need to be accepted or megalomaniacal whims that need to evaded, the fact is that these East-West “tensions”, today, appear symbiotic, in many ways expanding and enriching the cultural repertoire of both worlds. The question therefore is whether we can re-read these “mongrel” landscapes as intrinsic “Asian” entities, that can guide, and perhaps even the inspire the future of Asian cities and beyond.
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“Manifesting Democracy: Public Space and the Search for Identity in Post-War Japan” by Vinayak Bharne explores the new forms publicness in post-war Japan – the first non-Western democracy in the world. By tracing the evolution and shifts of Japanese public space between the end of World War II to the beginning of the 80s economic Bubble, it reflects deeper on the meanings of public space within the Japanese city today, offering both a re-reading of the Japanese city as a democratic construct, and of democracy as a culturally appropriated model.
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“Macau Paradox: Post-Colonial Portuguese-Chinese Urban Manifestations” by Marisa Yiu elaborates on a Portuguese colony’s cultural transformation into a new landscape of gambling, consumption, and spectacle—encompassing Cirque de Soleil at the Venetian resort, the Four Seasons hotel on Cotai, luxury brands such as Gucci, Rolex, and Louis Vuitton, and 24-hour-a-day shopping. It observes how diametrically opposed forces coexist in this once cultural backwater, helping the city to forge a new identity that combines the frenetic energy of slot machines with the nostalgic rhythms of its colonial past.
“Beyond Le Corbusier: The Changing Face of Chandigarh’s Capitol” by Vinayak Bharne examines the evolution of one of Asian Modernism’s most iconic places over half a century of post colonization. The Capitol’s original Nehruvian-Corbusian nationalistic vision is gauged against its incomplete implementation, sudden fortification due to the 80s terrorist threats, and changing populist perceptions as an abandoned public place. Between its continuing veneration under a Corbusian veil, versus its possible transformation into a larger habitat, this study points to the limitations of Modernism as a Western phenomenon that has failed to surpass the socio-political vagaries of other worlds.
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“An (Almost) all American City: The Vision and Legacy of the Tehran Comprehensive Plan” By Vesta Nele Zareh examines Shah Reza Pahlavi’s ambitious yet failed vision to modernize Iran in the 60s. It discusses the socio-cultural repercussions of his half-built legacy under the changed political order of the Islamic Revolution. While it reminds us of the potential pathos of grand visions thrust upon a deep-rooted culture, it also observes how locals have now begun to reinterpret and appropriate the “ruins” of this modernist utopia for their own use, making the Tehran metropolitan area one of the fastest growing places in Asia.
“The Dilemmas of Conservation and Reconstruction in Beirut” by Aseel Sawalha describes how Solidere, the company in charge of rebuilding downtown Beirut imposed a modern project ignoring the city’s people and traditions, and how the people in turn opposed Solidere’s plans asserted their rights to the city. Although excluded from the initial reconstruction, the demonstrators succeeded in inserting themselves physically and symbolically within urban space, using their temporary takeover to voice political demands and indirectly protest their exclusion from the plans of the new city.
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“Tensions Manifested: Re-reading the Viceroy’s House in New Delhi” by Aseem Inam
traces the lesser known tensions between the Viceroy’s political intentions of having an “Indian” monument with English ideals, and the architect Edwin Lutyens’ reluctance and eventual compromise. It further expands the reading of one of the most significant colonial monuments in Asian history as a simultaneous relic, contemporary monument, and pointer to India’s future, offering deeper reflections on colonialism as a cultural phenomenon that is perceived differently by different generations.
“High Dreams and Stark Realities: Reading Islamabad” by Noman Ahmed & Hanif Daud observes the appropriation of Pakistan’s capital, planned in the 60’s as brand new modern city by the Greek planner Constantinos Doxiades. Whereas the core proposals have stayed intact, successive developments have been modified and compromised, generating visible contrasts between the most assorted spaces and the unkempt sub-neighborhoods now bordering urban blight. The paper observes that this clash of elite and populist cultures is in stark contrast to the tenets of the founding vision.
“Post-Colonial Subconscious: Re-Reading Mega-Projects in Asia” by Abidin Kusno argues that the weight of a colonial past lurks behind the most ambitious expressions of Asia’s present. Through discussions on the massive nation-building schemes of post-independent Jakarta, and the contrast in the Shanghai Bund and the Lujiazui across the Huangpu River, it suggests that one way to read the cultural characteristic of Asian utopias today is through the historical “tensions” out of which they emerged: colonialism, Cold War arrangements, US-led globalization, and the struggle to cope with them.
Tensions
The Book
