SMOKE AND THE CITY

Abstract

The components that make up a city encompass beyond the visible to the invisible, the latter being our atmospheric landscape. The current phenomenon seen in modern context, however, shows a detachment of one from the other. The image of a thriving modern city is represented by tall skyscrapers against a clear backdrop with the complete elimination of industrial processes and its by-products. This lack of smoke consists largely of solving the problem of perceptible pollution by sweeping it under the rug, cultivating decidedly social consequences. This paper aims to uncover the current state of present-day cities characterized by its smokeless atmosphere, yet polluted all the same. This invisible form of pollution is in itself even more insidious, having a subtle and gradual but yet cumulative effect on life. Following industrialization, leaders of developed countries have pushed the ban on processes which emit smoke. While this undesirable product of technology is a symbolization of advancement in early years, the contemporary flourishing society is marked by its sheer absence of smoke. Industries and smoke emitting processes are planned diligently on an urban scale, often pushed to the peripheries of a country’s land, virtually invisible to its residents. Nevertheless, the evidence of contamination comes in real, solid proof in the forms of pollution standards index and health statistics, etc. The architectural aesthetics of the invisible is explored in conjunction with industrial aesthetics. The argument follows that, since the departure from industrial revolution, both the invisible and the visible have been effectively split into two separate realities in modern times.