the invisible cities
This is my attempt, à la Marco Polo by Italo Calvino, to remind this year's mayoral candidates of the existence of the cities where they intend to be elected.
Here is my attempt, à la Marco Polo by Italo Calvino, to remind this year's mayoral candidates of the existence of the cities where they intend to be elected: in one of them, it is not permitted to walk without four wheels. In another, the streets turn into rivers when it rains. In a third, it is necessary to dig through the water itself towards the abyss.
In "Invisible Cities," Calvino recounts the mission assigned by Kublai Khan to the Venetian Marco Polo: to visit and present to him in detail his empire, which, being so vast, the conqueror could not possibly explore alone. Unlike the leading mayoral candidates this year, at least the Mongol emperor is interested in knowing how his cities are doing.
Perhaps it's too early for them to finally take center stage in this year's municipal election debates. First, coalitions need to be finalized, TV advertising time defined, opponents' weaknesses studied, and candidates prepared for the debate. But amidst all this, does the city have any chance of becoming the most important issue of the election?
If the country wasn't the main topic of the last presidential election, why should a municipality be? Given the state of Brazilian capitals, it seems the city has never been at the center of the electoral debate. The blame for the problems will always fall on the mayor; after all, he's the one who took on the mess. But what's the point of finding someone to blame if they're not going to solve the problems?
Even planned cities, like Brasília or Goiânia, have had flaws when they were built. And what about the largest city in the country? That's what I always ask myself when I see an ambulance struggling to cross Paulista Avenue. Our problems are conceptual and, therefore, unfortunately, they won't be solved from one election to the next.
Does this mean you shouldn't vote in October? No, fulfill your civic duty, believe it or not, but things aren't going to get better from 2013 onwards. Nor in 2017, probably. The good news is that national party politics is approaching a point of saturation from which it implodes or explodes. Perhaps then there will be room to contemplate the city.
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