2020’s ‘other’ narrative – the gleeful narrative about the ‘flight from the cities’ – has saddened me this summer.
I don’t want to move from the city. While I appreciate a slow-bursting sunrise and a rocky coastline as much as any other animal, my heart lies in Liverpool. (And has, in fact, been captured by a number of these big, mad, city places: Berlin, Oslo, London; Hanoi and San Francisco are all on my list of favourite places.)
Cities are us at our best. They’re full of life and colour and diversity and shared experiences. Of compassion and culture and opportunity. Because we live more closely, in cities, we mix more, I think. They’re the places where we mix and seek out the new.
And they’re full of all sorts of people. So many that we can always find ‘our people’. The ones who inspire us and teach us new things and make us feel like we belong.
They’re full of live music, art and sports teams. Jobs, entrepreneurs and outliers. Opportunities. I don’t want to have to drive, or fathom the train reduced-service timetable, or head for the bus station to do these things. And that’s why they’re in cities: because we have lots of people. It’s not sustainable to spend your time driving to do the things you want to do. And it’s not sustainable to have them in places where there are fewer people.
And this is important, because population and population density stimulate enterprise and economic activity. While the way we work may well change, that can’t work for everyone. So what do our cities become if they’re full of the people who have to be physically close to the places they work? That doesn’t give us that thrilling mix that makes us more accepting of others.
Cities are intoxicating, exciting; ever-changing. They feed us and they create brilliant things. Sure, they’re not often relaxing – although you can certainly find solitude when you need it.
If nothing else, 2020 has shown me what I value. Family and friends who energise me; travel, variety and spontaneity. To be able to choose to go out and see live music; sit in a favourite sunny spot to eat or to dance. To bump into friends unexpectedly.
I don’t want to plan my life around the last train out of the city.
2020 has been exhausting and I’m sure we all need some respite from its relentless intensity. Samuel Johnson may have said that, ‘when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life’. But that doesn’t mean we should abandon our cities permanently.
Canning Street photo by Deividas Toleikis on Unsplash