"...threw my cape over my right shoulder, and strode along, enjoying the mild autumn weather and the various odors of the metropolis."
-Robert Heinlein, Double Star (New York, 1957), p. 9.
Reading this novel in the 1960s, I was disappointed that Lorenzo did not tell us what this futuristic city looked like. I imagined metallic buildings. Would there be provision for mere pedestrians in a city with advanced technology?
Alan Moore's viewpoint characters walk around Northampton. The author writes a character's stream of consciousness while also imparting information about urban geography and history. I would like to read a description of Dominic Flandry strolling around Archopolis. Flandry would be able to reflect on Terrestrial urban history, not only Chicago Integrate and San Francisco Integrate but also the slum where Eric Wace had grown up.
Pedestrians in Metropolis would continually look up...
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Well, humans still have two LEGS. So I assume any human cities would make some provision for things like walkways and parks.
I'm also reminded of how, when Miriam Abrams arrived in Arhcopolis in A STONE IN HEAVEN, she was so overwhelmed by the "nightmare beauty" of the city that she frankly fled to her hotel room. I thought that interesting, how even an intelligent, well educated woman could feel so overwhelmed. But that's easily explained from Miriam being more used to a non human planet like Ramnu, with no cities.
Sean
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