Walking Between Slums and Skyscrapers: Illusions of Open Space in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai

Introduction

Introduction฀ Walking฀in฀the฀Global฀City:฀ Whose฀Open฀Space฀Is฀It?฀ Capitalism฀thereby฀build s฀and฀rebuilds฀a฀geography฀in฀its฀own฀image.฀It฀ constructs฀a ฀distinctive฀geographica l฀landscape ,฀a฀produced฀spac e฀of฀ transport฀and฀communications,฀of฀infrastructures฀and฀territorial฀organizations,฀ that฀facilitates฀capital฀accumulation฀during฀one฀phase฀of฀its฀history฀only฀to฀ have฀to฀be฀torn฀down฀and฀reconfigured฀to฀make฀way฀for฀further฀accumulation฀ at฀a฀later฀stage.฀If,฀therefore,฀the฀word฀"globalization"฀signifies฀anything฀about฀ our฀recent฀historical฀geography,฀it฀is฀most฀likely฀to฀be฀a฀new฀phase฀of฀exactly฀ this฀same฀underlying฀process฀of฀the฀capitalist฀production฀of฀space.฀ David฀Harvey฀ If฀there฀is฀a฀history฀of฀walking,฀then฀it฀too฀has฀come฀to฀a฀place฀where฀the฀ road฀falls฀off,฀a฀place฀where฀there฀is฀no฀public฀space฀and฀the฀landscape฀is฀ being฀paved฀over,฀where฀leisure฀is฀shrinking฀and฀being฀crushed฀under฀the฀ anxiety฀to฀produce,฀where฀bodies฀are฀not฀in฀the฀world฀but฀only฀indoors฀in฀ cars฀and฀buildings,฀and฀an฀apotheosis฀of฀speed฀makes฀those฀bodies฀seem฀ anachronistic฀or฀feeble.฀ Rebecca฀Solnit฀ I was writing the last part of this project when the horrors of the September II attack s shocked the world. New York City, the global city that serves as a role model for many metropolises in the world, suffered th e most audacious terrorist attacks. The collapse of the World Trade Center, the landmark of the quintessential globa l city , urges us t o rethink th e monumenta l spac e a s an emblem of invincible power and the problems entailed by globalization. It is 2฀Introductio n฀ noteworthy that the very globalization tha t gives rise to these monumenta l buildings also leads to their destruction: airplanes, a means and symbo l of globalization, become a weapon in the hands of terrorists, who cross borders which were made permeable to facilitate global flows of information, travel , and capital. The capital flows that empower the monumental buildings ca n protect neither the steel and concrete of the skyscrapers nor the corporeality of thos e who inhabi t th e space . Th e fac t tha t th e global econom y slowe d down afte r th e attack s furthe r attest s t o th e vulnerability o f globalization , demonstrating what happens when "th e center cannot hold." On the othe r hand, the tragedies, in a sense, mirror the dire consequences of the uneven development o f globalization . Th e wa r betwee n th e US , th e economi c superpower, and Afghanistan, one of the most impoverished countries in the world, canno t b e explaine d b y merel y anothe r confrontatio n betwee n Christianity and Islam or the good and the evil as simplified b y George W. Bush.1 I t is also a clash between those who profit from capital flows and the marginalized others that relentlessly have been excluded from the process of globalization. Recurrent in its commercials, Microsoft emphasize s the slogan: "So we will ask it again: Where do you want to go today?" (emphasis original) The slogan exemplifies th e ideology o f ope n spac e enabled b y globalization. Utilizin g advanced technologie s in the areas of communications an d transportation , globalization i n man y way s seem s t o ope n u p mor e possibilitie s i n contemporary society, entailing such phenomena as deterritorialization, th e decline of nation-state control, and decorporealization (abstractio n of bodily experience).2 Specifically , the Utopia of globalization is a flexible, fluid, an d mobile space, an open space that knows no boundaries. Just as the jumbo jet constantly reminds us of how modern transportation compresses the physical spaces and renders faraway places as close as one's backyard, the world wide web as part of the information revolution makes the world a virtual reality at one's fingertips. One o f th e persisten t concern s i n thi s projec t i s abou t th e effect s o f globalization o n our lived space of everyday life as witnessed in East Asian metropolises includin g Hon g Kong , Tokyo, and Shanghai . T o examine th e ideology of the open space produced by globalization, it is essential to turn to cities. However mobil e global capita l ca n be, it requires concret e materia l [3.145.47.253...