table with 25 rows and 1 columns row 1 column 1 The city is a concept that presents constant challenges to policy makers, architects, engineers, artists and, of course, residents. row 2 row 3 row 4 link l ssid equals 35578 and subscriber id equals ayx… link View in web browser row 5 row 6 row 7 row 8 The Ledger row 9 row 10 February 2020 row 11 row 12 link Unlabeled graphic To get missing image descriptions, open the context menu. row 13 row 14 In recent decades, human civilisation has experienced a profound tipping point which, after millennia of the opposite, switched the balance of our populations from the countryside to the cities. The urban has come to define modernity to the degree that those of us who live in metropolises experience them as indispensable and singular symbols of what it means to live now. But the city’s tremendous achievements its consolidations of technology, culture and efficiency can extract costs of which we must remain ever mindful. From the wear and tear of particulate matter on our bodies to rush hour transport congestion to such unforeseen effects as the precipitous link decline link and alteration of birdsong , the city is an entity, an organism, a concept that presents relentless challenges to the policymakers, architects, engineers, artists and above all the sundry residents who confront it. This month, we celebrate the consciousness raising task of examining ways to exist within and appreciate the city, and to rise above its flaws and inequities to explore its joys and the possibilities of its history and future. row 15 row 16 row 17 row 18 table with 1 rows and 2 columns row 1 column 1 link Read February’s issue column 2 out of table row 19 column 1 row 20 link Unlabeled graphic Aesop The Ledger February 2020… link CINEMA An intelligent, visceral slice of urban vérité Luke Lorentzen’s 2019 documentary Midnight Family follows the Ochoas, who run a single vehicle family ambulance service in Mexico City, which proves to be an exhausting, worthy enterprise. link Continue reading link Unlabeled graphic Aesop The Ledger February 2020… link READ The case for thrumming crowds The urban theorist P. D. Smith is a persuasive advocate for cities. In this dynamic, cosmopolitan space’, he writes in City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age, lies the wellspring of our creativity as a species. link Continue reading row 21 link DISCOVER Inspired concepts for developments to come Alexander Eisenschmidt’s Visionary Cities Project imagines new iterations of architectural urbanism through innovative research collaborations, design workshops and exhibitions. link Continue reading link ATTEND A city made of couscous, and other ingenious attractions Through 22 March, the Tate Modern presents Living Cities’, an illuminating exhibition that showcases artists working in and making art about cities across the world. link Continue reading row 22 link THE PARIS REVIEW An early 20th century reprobate in Berlin In a trenchant essay in the Paris Review Daily, Dustin Illingworth uses the art of George Grosz to introduce Alfred Döblin and his 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz a fable with a weird vibrational power. link Continue reading link ARCHITECTURE A tale of verdant towers Bosco Verticale is a pair of residential towers in Milan designed by Stefano Boeri, inspired by Italo Calvino’s novel The Baron in the Trees and comprising 400 units festooned with a riot of plant life. link Continue reading row 23 row 24 Illustrations by Audrey Helen Weber row 25 out of table Through this broad street, restless ever, ebbs and flows a human tide… John Greenleaf Whittier link Shop link Visit link Privacy policy link Terms and conditions link Twitter link Instagram Aesop, link GPO Box 411, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia Copyright Copyright 2019 Aesop All rights reserved. link Register a complaint about this email. link Unsubscribe