Box 76, item 679: The modern city as an environmental problem

Box 76, item 679: The modern city as an environmental problem

Typescript.

Note, one of two papers digitised from item 679.

The University of Queensland's Richard Sylvan Papers UQFL291, Box 76, item 679

This item was identified for digitisation at the request of The University of Queensland's 2020 Fryer Library Fellow, Dr. N.A.J. Taylor.

For all enquiries about this work, please contact the Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library.

[1] leaf. 702.02 KB.

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THE MODERN CITY AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM
It is widely assumed, for instance by philosophers, most of whom are

urban creatures, that large modern cities are valuable institutions and

whatever the very serious costs and deprivations of modern city living, the
advantages considerably outweigh the costs.

There are those who are not

persuaded that that is so.
The image of the mob is part of our image of the city,J

and the

city is the carrier of the best and the worst of civilization
(S. Diamond, In Search for the Primitive p.167)
- but the latter is also a pretty dubious customer according to Diamond.

Note:
1.

The modern city as a reducer of variety

2.

The metropolitan state, with landscope dominated by the city.

The

drain, power relation, etc.
3.

The loss of contact with the natural

4.

The way commerce controls the city: the secondary and substitutional

role of people.