"Benjamin's analyses emphasise for us the failure of these projects(Capitalist and Socialist modernity) for the disambiguation of the modern social and spatial field. What I would like to argue is that in fact in the wake of the failure of these projects, we ought rather to turn towards the more fluid and radical conception of social porosity initially exemplified by the modernising space of Naples as a more plausible way of understanding the ambiguities of contemporary late-modern or post-modern modes of urban socio-spatial inhabitation."
Peter, Schmiedgen. 2009. Interiority, Exteriority and Spatial Politics in Benjamin's Cityscapes, Walter Benjamin and the Architecture of Modernity. Melbourne: Re.press. 154.
"The Generic City is the city liberated from the captivity of center, from the straitjacket of identity. The Generic City breaks with this destructive cycle of dependency: it is nothing but a reflection of present need and present ability. It is the city without history. It is big enough for everybody. It is easy. It does not need maintenance. If it gets too small it just expands. If it gets old it just self-destructs and renew. It is equally exciting-or unexciting-everywhere. It is "superficial"-like a Hollywood studio lot, it can produce a new identity every Monday morning.
Koolhaas, Rem. 1995. Generic City, S, M, L, XL. New York: Monacelli Press. 1249-1250.
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