Cities as Order

In this episode, we speak to Conrad Hamannas we discuss contemporary perspectives on the emulated city, questioning its role as a symbol of order and an instrument of control. Conrad Hamann explores the impulse to emulate cities as a means of establishing order, authority, stability, and clarity. The enduring presence of Rome and Athens in urban design serves as a prime example, but we also see this in 19th-century Melbourne’s fascination with Venice. These forms of emulation are often colonial, where rapidly growing settlements borrow familiar urban forms to create an instant sense of structure and legitimacy—mirroring the mother country. This pattern extends beyond architectureinto cinema, from the archetypal Wild West town to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, where urban forms reinforce control, hierarchy, and power. The desire for order is closely tied to protection, conquest, and the assertion of ownership overland. This may also explain the obsession with creating city icons—perhaps nowhere more apparent than in Melbourne—where a single building is expected to embody the identity of an entire city.Check out the references from this episode.