Worlds both popular and marginal

There are substantive differences between Europe, Japan and North America in their current uses of comic-architecture. These may reflect more fundamental differences between the continents in terms of how the "general public" understands and feels about cities, and perhaps how that public understands and feels about the people or agencies who build. And these differences have older roots, both in city development and in mass-produced artworks. Yet, because these images are the products of very few people, their "artistic" personalities and statements may or may not reflect the preferences of their wider audiences.

Nevertheless, there are urban and architectural settings that appear generic, or at least easily transported -- utopian or dystopian skylines, threatening dark alleys, vertiginous and claustrophobic angles of view, and so on. Since many comic creators are among the most avid readers of other comic creators, world-wide, that should not be so surprising. The "portable" and shared characteristics come from customs of creating and viewing comic pages that are more or less universal. The similarity to cinema is not an accident -- remember that cinema and newspaper comics grew up around the same time, more or less a century ago.

Environmental practitioners might learn something from the more popular views of the world, both as it is shown to exist and as it might exist. To describe well what exists is to be most of the way to a good design for the future. No less than other popular media, comics offer interesting perspectives on both what does exist and what might be coming.

And looking at the content of comics might even offer a surer grasp of the dreams and critiques of the people who read the comic-book world but live in this one.

some very provisional "conclusions" . . .

		Ephemeral landscapes: popular worlds? Settings and images of the world

`MassPopCultArt` `Material values` `What is a comic?` `back to the beginning of the INTRODUCTION` `check out the REFERENCES` `LITTLE PICTURES`		There are substantive differences between Europe, Japan and North America in their current uses of comic-architecture. These may reflect more fundamental differences between the continents in terms of how the "general public" understands and feels about cities, and perhaps how that public understands and feels about the people or agencies who build. And these differences have older roots, both in city development and in mass-produced artworks. Yet, because these images are the products of very few people, their "artistic" personalities and statements may or may not reflect the preferences of their wider audiences. Nevertheless, there are urban and architectural settings that appear generic, or at least easily transported -- utopian or dystopian skylines, threatening dark alleys, vertiginous and claustrophobic angles of view, and so on. Since many comic creators are among the most avid readers of other comic creators, world-wide, that should not be so surprising. The "portable" and shared characteristics come from customs of creating and viewing comic pages that are more or less universal. The similarity to cinema is not an accident -- remember that cinema and newspaper comics grew up around the same time, more or less a century ago. Environmental practitioners might learn something from the more popular views of the world, both as it is shown to exist and as it might exist. To describe well what exists is to be most of the way to a good design for the future. No less than other popular media, comics offer interesting perspectives on both what does exist and what might be coming. And looking at the content of comics might even offer a surer grasp of the dreams and critiques of the people who read the comic-book world but live in this one. some very provisional "conclusions" . . .
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Settings and images of the world