Megalopolis
Preparing for my trip to South Korea next month and the recent exhibition I saw got me thinking about the incredible urban structures out there…
© Trey Ratcliff
© Rob K.
© Trey Ratcliff
One of the big things which attracts me to East Asia is the urban architecture of its mega-city agglomerations. High-rise, densely packed, chaotic, futuristic, sprawling, and littered with incomprehensible (to the non-native eye) neon typographic advertising they certainly evoke an other-worldly feel. This has been widely reflected in popular culture through films like like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix (to name but a few) where the influences of these megalopoleis are plainly evident. Indeed, some areas of Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing are very sci-fi!
Some people theorise that eventually cities will expand so far that they will fuse together and form an ecumenopolis at either a continental or worldwide level! The idea of never being able to escape the city sounds like a nightmare to me but in some ways, especially for the less well off in some countries, it’s already a reality.
In the end the question must be asked Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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Awwww! No! Have you read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? My Dad looked everywhere for it after seeing and being so very impressed by Blade Runner, but it's nowhere near as good
It's such a shame, because I thought the book was going to be mind-blowing.
Sort of missed the point of your post, didn't I?
I'm surprised you'd heard of it – it was supposed to be a sort of cryptic clue! I've not actually read the book, just picked up the gist from Wikipedia. Keep digging deeper…