What If? Metropolis - Travelogue

Note: Still in decision of naming the city, I had the idea of using Swedish terms for the name that will connect to the whole Scandinavian atmosphere. Such as smooth but in terms of the Swedish language it would be Vänlig

When you want to find [name], the city of unity you will first have expose yourself to the raw and thickening mist that engulfs the mountainside. It is what seems like a frozen labyrinth but with no walls, so you wander aimlessly, frozen to the bone, and just as you’re about to retire, collapse even… the mist begins to lift almost like a curtain to reveal [name]. From afar on the outskirts it seems quite paltry, but the central bed rock it rises from across the water plane, that is [names]’s domain.

Entering by trekking on thin stretched wooden planks, the city rises, and a few details come to view: shapes of the buildings become more defiant, they curve and twist and the define in scale. Though the buildings that look more spherical and well-kept are the important ones, they are what ties the city together. The central building stands the tallest, it’s stem supports its rounder core that has surrounding glass on one side of it, and from there you can see further from the outskirts, into the woodlands and mountain passes, from here the inhabitants keep a balance of their use of resources by always keeping a keen eye on the outer part of the city.

Surrounding this building to its left is a more wider structure that bends and curves near the centre, the entrance stretches almost to the whole height of itself, inside standing tall in carved oak is the mother of [name], holding in one hand stone, wood and twine and in the other an open palm. This embodiment symbolises the cities beliefs in craftsmanship and shining down from above the interiors pocket hole sized windows, is the truth of unity and community.

To the right of the city’s central is a growing collection of structures, all twisting and intertwining, still trying to figure itself out, these are the crafting towers where the inhabitants go to collaborate, share their like-mindedness, craft and create new things for the city. From the bottom you can see balconies and open areas where the crafters sit and observe, sharing their views on how to expand the city. Around this area that compared to the other aspects of [name] this part is still in construction, or maybe that’s how it supposed to look. With vast crates and stacks of numerous materials surrounding the area, some from around the area such as oak or other types of wood, various types of stone, twine and such, others make you question the lengths the people would go to gather these sorts of materials. These are the houses, the schools, the structures of which are born from these people’s hands and their use of such materials.

The smaller scaled buildings, domed spaces that house the inhabitants, seem to be more open and welcoming and share a garden that floors the whole city, everything is connected here and is as one. These people live as one, they all share to be equal and accept one another and they strive to create, educate and craft, they are the community that sculpts the heart and body of [name]. They have developed exceedingly to craft and sculpt these complexes with the materials that surrounds them. It’s a community that’s evolved but stayed intact with its roots, you’re walking into the organic future, a fusion of traditional and modern.

It’s been made quite clear now that these people do not use the support of machinery or tech, which explains the location, it has isolated them from the outside and they’ve managed to develop. You can see in the buildings that stretch over how intricate and precise the detail has gone into it, it makes a stranger to the city question how it’s possible. By the means of the cities beliefs, how they educate their younger generation and persuade their creativity and knowledge, a positive process of encouragement. And from that births the builders, thinkers, scavengers, educators, observers, and creators of [name].

What’s questionable about this city is how they’re able to collect so much material, they respect and reserve the land on the outskirts of which they travel into on their expedition, that’s the thing because they respect this land so much they will replant it’s seed so in time it will heal and grow so it can be reused rightfully, so they’re not taking away, they’re giving back to what’s being given to them.

In terms of food, the inhabitants share and grow vegetable patches, from the gardens before these sought near the homes.

 The term hunting isn’t unheard of from the cities people either, with the respect of the nature in the woodlands, there are types of animals that harm the peace of the area and the people who venture into the woodland, this is when the action is acceptable to react, they take as an act of saving nature. This is mainly one of the reasons why the city placed itself on the outskirts of the woodlands and the mountain sides, it not only needs a clear vision of its materials but also the dangers around, because even though they may feel they have found a rightful place here to build a society, things that lurk in the depths of the woodland would say otherwise.

It’s not only the dangers of the woodland that try to damage what’s been created, [name] tries to reform itself from its scars, as there was a time where it was almost no more. You can see this in the cracks that it attempts to smooth away, the smiling yet desperate believers who gather in the mother’s cathedral, begging for forgiveness, to grieve, to forget and move on. They hide their guilt behind a mask that shows everything is as. Bandages in the form of bamboo scaffolding holds in place what almost did fall apart and little by little it begins to heal. As much as the people want to move on the only thing they can do is sculpt, shape and craft a better [name].