Vertical Cities
The urban environment depicted in the cult classic film Blade Runner (intended to represent Los Angeles in the year 2019) has received its share of scholarly attention… and no wonder. Scenes in which flying cars zip through a maze of city “streets,” riding thousands of feet above ground level, are among the movie’s most captivating. And while the film is dystopian, depicting a distressingly dense and inhumane cityscape, it may nevertheless be prophetic: current explorations in neighborhood development are more Blade Runner than they are The Andy Griffith Show.
