A black box is any device you believe works but do not know how. A device that if someone asked you how it worked, your only response would be: “magic.” Unless you are a computer scientist, you are probably using a black box right now. Can you tell me why Google Chrome opens when you double click the icon? By magic? This question is what led me to study computer science and eventually found myself studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. While here I have learned something weird; something crazy; something I had never realized could be true…
The City Itself is a Black Box
While here I have started to realize that a city is much more than a place with buildings; or more so for me, the place that doesn’t have mountains. I have started to realize there is a lot that goes into what makes a city click, what makes the people do what they do, and most importantly what makes a city great.
What Makes a City Great?
A popular answer to this question is that a city’s culture is the key source to how great a city is. I would totally agree, but what does culture mean and how does it affect a city?
Well, first, culture is what gives a city personality. Personality is what makes a city different from a work of art; a city is being continually worked on and is fully alive with its own character, and it all comes from culture. So where does culture come from and who influences it? This is the question I have asked myself as I began to observe different cities.
Upon reflection of these cities, I see a common thread: relationship. Every city has two groups of people; the leaders and the followers. The leaders are put in place to govern the followers, giving them rules to follow in order to promote some greater good. As they do this they of course have to relate information somehow to the followers of the city and form a relationship.
I am promoting the idea that this relationship is what inspires the personality of the city. The leaders build a canvas and the followers paint the picture. One cannot thrive without the other. And the health of this relationship is incredibly important to how well the city thrives. For example, many years ago in Medellin, the city turned itself upside down as it began renovations. At this time the city was rated the most dangerous city in the world; it was normal to have bullets fly through your dining room curtain while sitting down for a family meal.
However, the government wanted change, and they worked really well with the people to achieve that change. Each region was asked to create a renovation plan, and they were explicitly told not to make any plans without first consulting the people that lived in that area. Through this communication, the city built escalators, learning centers, parks, and many other features that allowed the communities to thrive and build a healthy personality for their city.
Other cities like Vancouver had different results as the government pushed the idea of a freeway system that the people did not want. Even though the people protested against this idea, saying it would destroy the social atmosphere of the city, the government ignored them. Through much perseverance, some of the protesters were able to rise into legislative positions and shut the program down. Through that, there was very close community as people came together to stop the freeway from being built. What if they had given up and let the government build anyways? What would have happened to the city’s culture? These are the kinds of influences the leaders of a city have on its people.
Here in Barcelona, I see children daily playing football in front of the market; this would never be tolerated in front of a Publix back in Atlanta. And what is the result of this difference in society? In Barcelona, the market seems more like a social place; a place not just for groceries, but a place for multiple purposes in the community. In Atlanta, there is more separateness; Publix is a shopping center and nothing else, and the park is a park for playing and nothing else.
Neither form of living is necessarily better than the other; just like art, it is really all in the eye of the beholder. This is what makes a city great: that through the relationships of leaders and followers, people are able to create a unique and thriving culture.
This may not be the final answer to unravel the black box that lies in the city. But it is enough to strike my interest and make me dive in and really learn about how a city works.
A version of this post was previously published on medium.com and is republished here with permission from the author.
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