Walking in the City - De Certeau

1.   What doe de Certeau mean when he says, when a person sees Manhattan from the 110^h floor of the world trade center, “his elevation transforms him into a voyeur. It puts him at a distance. It transforms the bewitching world [. . .] into a text. [. . .] It allows him to read it; to be a solar eye” (92).

De Certeau means that when a person is on the 110th floor of the World Trade Center, he automatically becomes someone who is all seeing. In which, he becomes the storyteller. Everything below becomes a "text" that can be manipulated in however which way the "author" or "god" wants to manipulate it into. The transformation that De Certeau is alluding to would be the experience, in which one would feel very different being in the crowd.

2.   De Certeau states that “urban life increasingly permits the re-emergence of the element that the urbanistic project excluded” (95) and “spatial practices in fact secretly structure the determining social conditions of social life” (96). Explain these statements and discuss how they relate to the title of this section-- “From Concepts to Practices.”

De Certeau's statement refers to concepts of the mind and the actual practices of these concepts. Urbanistic projects may relate to the formations of cities and how the formation follows a certain structure. Although they follow these structures, the actuality of this concept in action or in "practice" may not appear to follow the structure at all. In a perfect world, these concepts, when put into practice, will turn out exactly as it was planned, but because our world is not, there are unforeseeable  consequences. The practice of one space directly affects the conditions of the space, which then, creates the quality of life. This all can be related to Style Wars, in that the graffiti became a concern due to it creating social conditions that was deemed improper by many. Signs of graffiti have direct relations to areas with high crime rates, as well as undereducated children and low income families. This becomes a city wide problem, as it degrades all forms of quality living.

3.   What is “the Chorus of idle footsteps” and why can’t “they be counted” (97)? Refer to the notion of “tactile apprehension and kinesthetic appropriation” in your answer (97).

In "Walking in the Cities," De Certeau mentions how pathways are formed by people and how these pathways are created by the "idle footsteps." The chorus of idle footsteps are the footsteps of the pedestrians. This mass of people are all walking to their own destination. They cross into each other's pathways, which creates these "shapes" of space. Although the footsteps of many create different pathways, these pathways cannot be counted because of the different types of "footsteps." Everyone moves in their own way with their own purposes. These pathways are then erased, while new ones are created on top of these old paths. Therefore, "this causes it to be forgotten."

4.   De Certeau maintains that walking creates “one of these ‘real systems whose existence in fact makes up the city” (97).  What does this mean and how does it relate to his assertion that, “The act of walking is to the urban system what the speech act is to language” (97)? What is he trying to establish by saying this?

Walking creates the urban system, like speaking creates a language. This basically means that a urban system would not exist without the existence of people walking and creating pathways throughout the space itself. Similarly so, language would not exist if people did not speak. A city is created because humans walk with purpose. This becomes the only reason why a city exists.

5.   Why can’t walking be “reduced to [a] graphic trail” such as you would see on a map or urban plan, according to de Certeau (99)?

Walking varies in diversity. Maps allow only certain pathways to travel by, which is limiting compared to real life in actuality. People have the ability to travel through "loopholes." Space is never defined the same by people. For example, a map of a small town may include the fences of the backyard of homes. If one were in a hurry, he might jump the fences instead of taking a recorded route, like the sidewalk. Walking can never be simplified to maps because they cannot predict all the choices of the pedestrians.

6.   What does de Certeau mean by “the long poem of Walking”  (101).

Walking can metaphorically be compared to a poem. In which poems are known to be complex with allusions, ambiguities, personal interests, etc. Walking is similar to poems because everyone interprets it differently, just like the poet had his own intentions. The intentions were probably based on the cultural impact at that time, personal matters, as well as social impact. Walks have their own stories. They are also determined by the same general ideas.

7.   De Certeau defines two “pedestrian figures” through which “rhetoric of walking” (100) is created: synecdoche and asyndeton. He notes that synecdoche “expands a spatial element in order to make it play the role of a ‘more’” (101). On the other hand, asyndeton, “by elision, creates a ‘less” opens gaps in the spatial continuum, and retains only selected parts” (101).  Explore and explain these terms and relate them to de Certeau’s larger argument.

     A synecdoche takes one idea that is part of another idea, while a asyndeton takes a separated idea and joins them, which creates conjunctions. This is similar to the creation of space, in that space can be joined or separated into islands. Space creates stories that are created with  a combination of social practices that it symbolizes. This would mean the space itself and what people do in that space creates stories. These stories can be connected to other stories or can exist on their own.

8.    De Certeau argues that the proper nouns which mark a city (naming streets, buildings, monuments) once were “arranged in constellations that heirarchize and semantically order the surface of the city . . .” (104) .  However, even though these words eventually lose their original value, “their ability to signify outlives its first definition” (104) and they function to articulate “a second, poetic geography  on top of the geography of the literal . . . meaning” (105). Explain what he means by these statements.

     This relates back to what De Certeau had said about pathways created by people and how they cannot exist after they are overwritten. New stories are created over these geography. After it is overwritten, they become something else. Although the names are the same, they have entirely different meanings than when it was first named. They create order in the moment. Each name systemizes where each space belongs, but over time these names of streets and avenues begin to lose its meaning. Which is interesting because these meaningless names give meaning to people who travel in the moment. They look to these names to create their own meaning.

9.   Explain de Certeau’s statement that “places are fragmentary and inward-turning histories, pasts that others are not allowed to read, accumulated times that can be unfolded but like stories held in reserve, [. . .] encysted in the pain or pleasure of the body: ‘I feel good here’” (108). How does this fit into the larger argument about the “habitability” of the city?

Referring to the stories that are created, De Certeau mentions that places have records of stories, but because these stories are only known in personal terms, they become these taboo stories that cannot/will not be seen by others. They turn to individual history to each person who have lived in the very moment. They become the very stories that are held in reserve, only to be released when told. Each space encrypts certain feelings that intertwines with these hidden stories. This connects the habitability of the city to the idea that space that is intimate and personal becomes the only place habitable.

10. Explain the following quote, which occurs in the final paragraph of the essay: “the childhood experience that determines spatial practices later develops its effects, proliferates, floods private and public spaces, undoes their readable surfaces, and creates within the planned city a “metaphorical” or mobile city” (110). How does this statement fit into the argument as a whole?

     Nothing is stable. Because of this, spaces are ever changing and they become this idea of a  mobile city. Pathways determine stories, but they erase and overwrite. Just like signs define space, but lose its meaning and create new ones over time. The mobile city represents the ever-changing space that we live in. We can bring this city anywhere we want and create new stories within it. The only thing that will destroy it would be the only thing that is out of our control, time.

"Spatial Stories" and "Tintern Abbey"

Human interactions, within certain realms, are the architects of place. Proven by Michel De Certeau’s “Spatial Stories,” human interactions with their surroundings have a direct proportionality to the actions associated to one place. Such that the stories inspired are the determinants of the activities in a space. “Tintern Abbey” becomes William Wordsworth’s vessel in the exploration of the two spaces that exists within one place, which proves that the only true boundary in one place, is the boundary of time.

In Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” the existence of time is essential as it is the boundary that allows for the existence of two separate spatial stories in the exact same location. Through De Certeau’s text and Wordsworth’s poem, one can decipher how the boundary of time came to its existence. De Certeau stresses the difference between space and place. In which, space is defined by the “vectors of directions, velocities, and time variables,” as opposed to place which is defined by the “elements” that create it and transforms it into something with distinct qualities that make it “proper” or stationary. Through De Certeau’s definition, “Tintern Abbey” would comprise of two different stories of unique spatial experiences that act in two separate time periods, yet occupy the same location. These stories juxtapose against one another. Wordsworth begins with, “FIVE years have past; five summers, with the length/Of five long winters!” which indicates that he has just recently revisited Tintern Abbey. Although he has returned to the same location, it is obvious that this experience did not parallel with his past visit to Tintern Abbey as a child. In which, he states, “For I have learned/To look on nature, not as in the hour/Of thoughtless youth.” Indicating that he has in fact evolved with time and that he has since then learned, “Of elevated thoughts; a sense of sublime/Of something far more deeply interfused.” Within these stanzas, it is obvious that Wordsworth has achieved the form of existence through De Certeau’s definition of “space.” He exists in these two different spatial stories as a different individual in the same place, twice. In this story he is weathered by his experiences in the cities and towns, which in turn transformed him into a different person with newfound appreciation for Tintern Abbey, as opposed to the younger him, who was naïve and only saw the beauty of Tintern Abbey on a surface level. Time creates two legible boundaries, in the sense that one space is occupied by the younger naïve Wordsworth and the other is taken by the older sophisticated Wordsworth.

De Certeau’s “Spatial Stories” on short narratives, further proves that Wordsworth exists in two spaces, yet in the same place due to the boundary of time. Although boundaries usually apply some form of segregation, De Certeau’s “logic of ambiguity,” allows for the “bridging” between the gaps of two distinctive spaces. De Certeau uses a short narrative to point out the fact that, although boundaries are created, it does not necessarily mean that the place itself is divided. In the narrative about the architect who filled in the spaces in a fence to separate space, De Certeau reveals that even through boundaries, therein exists a path. Through this “logic of ambiguity” one can infer that, even though Wordsworth’s adult-self and child-self exist in different dimensions, there is a bridging that occurs in the boundaries of time. Similar to, “The door that closes is precisely what may be opened; the river is what makes passage possible… the picket fence is an ensemble of interstices through which one’s glances pass,” De Certeau outlines the fact that these boundaries form actual pathways. In these indefinite zones, there is ironically a definite form of transition from his childhood-self to his adult-self. In the boundary of time, there exists of the time period, in which Wordsworth was forced to interact with the outside “towns and cities.” As stated, they have only successfully given him “hours of weariness.” Through these experiences in the real world, he has gained knowledge to successful appreciate Tintern Abbey on a different magnitude. On another note, the short narrative on the architect further proves that the difference between two distinct spaces will each be treated differently in the sense that a new space created receives a new set of rules because of its “theater of actions.”  Similarly so, a new space created will form different interactions, which is proven in Tintern Abbey through the division of time in spatial terms. Therefore through De Certeau’s “Spatial Stories,” one can infer that the boundary of time is the boundary that is created in Wordworth’s “Tintern Abbey.”

Through De Certeau’s “Spatial Stories,” one can conclude that the boundary of time created in “Tintern Abbey” is the result of it creating two spaces in one place. This boundary that exists within one place, also abides De Certeau’s “logic of ambiguity.” Through these definitions, the boundary of time is strengthened, which clearly supports the existence of Wordsworth in the two spatial realms with the contrast between the “now” and “then,” as well as a transition from childhood to adulthood.