But the term is more than a metaphorical counterpoint. It is embodied in those Asian landscapes that appear to resist technological prowess, and hold on to seemingly anachronistic patterns of public and private life. At the Ganges ghats in Varanasi, for instance, the diurnal enactment of ancient Hindu rituals along 5 miles of a holy river generate a complex urban “faith-scape” that is simultaneously contemporary and ancient.  In the bazaar of Isfahan, the economic organization of artisan guilds seems like a medieval viewport, with traditional skills passed on over numerous generations. In the tenuous mohallas (neighborhoods) surrounding the Jami Masjid (Friday Mosque) in Old Delhi, the lack of basic infrastructure seems contradictory to its thriving and self-sustaining micro-economy. Neither exotic worlds for a co-opted tourist economy, nor stagnant subcultures ignorant of cultural progress, these places embody parallel contemporary urbanities and urbanisms intrinsically linked to the economic, institutional and formal future of the Asian city.

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