In January this year I posted on my Facebook page asking: 'Who are your five favourite cities in the world?' Responses came en masse: Lagos, London, Mumbai, New York, Havana, Florence, Paris, Calabar, Dublin, San Francisco, Budapest, Venice, Delhi, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Barcelona, Ibadan, Chicago, Maputo, Perth ...
An interesting response came from Kabura Zakama; he mentioned his favourite cities as: Safiya, Aliyu, Ibrahim, Amina and Thlama. The names Kabura gave were not names of physical locations but of people — apparently these are loved ones.
What Kabura did was to connect to the intent of my question: that vision that cities are not mere settings, they are as well tangible and are at once personifications.
The responses didn't end there; a friend messaged me to say, 'David, cities are not "who".' It was easy to see that he meant a case for my grammatical use of 'who'. I replied: 'I chose "who" intentionally. For me, cities are people.'
The design, the functioning of a city has shown that a city becomes the fear and fantasy of its makers, users and dwellers. So it is important what understanding we make for places of birth, work, worship, food, fun, art, green and blue spaces, etc.
Whatever city development process is to be adopted, the spirit of community is key — landscape to networks to streets to public spaces to buildings. The approach ought to center on the fact that human needs and behaviours vary, and so cities automatically take the shape of the sensibilities of people.
This idea of cities as people is simply to widen development and its control into a participatory process, where every member of a city feels a sense of belonging. It is the creation of a lively, safe, sustainable and inclusive society — a society where bridges and buildings, closed and open spaces, goods and services altogether cater to all classes of flora and fauna.
"Jacob's favourite cities are peace, rainbow, jazz, cherubim and home. The deduction from this is that the making of peace and love is the same as the making of a city."
Back to the question I put: there was an interesting response from Jacob Jagaba. His favourite cities are peace, rainbow, jazz, cherubim and home. One immediately sees the symbols Jacob's seeking to making.
The deduction from this is that the making of peace and love is the same as the making of a city. Consequently, a city is no