The density of 18th-century London may have triggered outbreaks of disease, but it also led to intellectual breakthroughs, just as the density of Cambridge — one of the densest cities in America — contributes to its success as a creative center. One corollary of this research is that less dense urban areas, like Phoenix, may, over time, generate less innovation. The key, then, is to find ways to mitigate the psychological damage of the metropolis while still preserving its unique benefits.
By Jonah Lehrer, Boston Globe; excerpts, edited by Ellopos Blog – read complete. Cf. Emerson, Nature gives second birth to itself in poetry
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James
But also more crime due to the diminishing space between people (and not just physical space). There’s something both oddly perverse (considering the actual amount of free-space on the planet) yet strangely hypnotic about new modern cities- sometimes they appear to be nothing more than parts of its designed functions, so you often get the impression, while strolling, particularly after normal business hours of an essentially ghost city illumed by the shadows of the vacant ultra high spec office complexes. During other moments, the very same physical same can be occupied by the crowd or a particular type of crowd that somehow becomes coloured by the actual functions of a given district in the city, which again, like the progress of the sun around the buildings throughout the day, can literally “throw out” or cast a different reflection which can be perceived almost as a new phenomenon, say in the late afternoon, or in a different season.
Baudalaire, I think was one of the first great modern poets who seemed to be able to both discern and capture this (negative?) aura in his poetry.