a response to "Urban Tomographies"

One point in the reading states that “A city is an archive of its past (pg xvi).”  I find this point to be extremely true.  I find that when I’m analyzing a building site, I tend to look toward the history of the site and then look at how the past has influenced the current or present location.

Paris, France hired Charles Marville to “preserve the memory of the past (pg 10), “ of the rubbish and garbage that made Paris the unhealthy place it once was.  The city of Paris didn’t want to destroy the history of what once was Paris. 

My hope is that people learn from history, from the good and bad, and that we improve upon the past.  History will always be a part of who we are and where we live. Each city has remains of its “earlier urban fabric (pg 10).”

One form of gathering information that I thought was very interesting was based on sound clips.  Krieger states “Sound is everywhere, sneaking up from behind, diffracting around corners (pg 16).”  This statement reminds me of a statement my grandfather told me this summer at our family reunion.  He said that I was like the paparazzi, because I was documenting every little thing about the reunion weekend.

Another point that Krieger made was that certain sites are not meant to be photographed.  He also said that the viewer would know which sites were to be photographed and which sites where not.  Sites that are not meant to be photographed are instead meant to be “lived in, worked in, worshipped in (pg 18)” and seen but not imaged or photographed.