Welcome to City Scenes!

City Scenes shares stories about how iconic cities came to be — how the cumulative effect of geography, economy, built environment, policy, history and culture gives each place its distinct shape and personality. It’s an attempt to capture both the physical landscape and its more ineffable attributes, like the myths and stories that shape our perceptions of place.

By zooming in on a specific event or attribute of a city, I’ll explore questions like: What does the built environment tell us about a place? Can we read the layers of history like a geologist reads strata, each layer representing a specific moment in time? Or is it more like a palimpsest, with traces of the past erased and rewritten? What were key catalysts and turning points along the way that led to this place in this moment? How do depictions of a city in art, film and literature inspire or influence perceptions? Whose stories get told, and do they capture the multicultural richness of cities today? How does the past shape decisions made in the present, and how will that shape the future?

To put it more simply: Where has a city been, where is it now and where is it going?

Storytelling as meaning-making

When we think about iconic places (the boulevards of Paris, the bike infrastructure of Amsterdam, the garden squares of London) it’s easy to assume it was always like this, part of the city’s inherent DNA. But these were choices made at key moments in history. Origin stories and inflection points can help us better understand how a place came to be and how past decisions and events continue to influence the city today, even if it feels like ancient history (which it sometimes is).

These stories also expand our imagination about what a city can become. It directs our attention to the possibilities on offer and the agency we have in shaping the future. It can feel overwhelming to think about the current state of the world, but you’d be surprised what can get done at the local level. The city is an incubator for ideas about how to practice things like innovation, resilience, community and civic life. It’s a place where creative solutions that contribute to human flourishing can emerge and eventually spread around the world.

The city is also a place to practice artistic expression. In today’s globalized and increasingly virtual monoculture, I want to explore how culture is tied to place and time. (Why did Impressionism incubate in Paris in the 1860s, Nouvelle Vague in the 1960s? What spurred the Renaissance, and why did it flourish in Florence? What makes the Amsterdam School different from Modernisme in Barcelona?) It reminds me of Brian Eno’s concept of “scenius,” which debunks the myth of the lone genius and illustrates how many great artists were actually part of a “scene,” a rich cultural ecosystem and community. I take the question further to focus on the role place plays in shaping these cultural touchstones: the confluence of people, place and time that created the right conditions for a new art form.

Each of these stories — of history, development, economy, culture — helps us see the city in a new way, scene by scene.

What to expect

I’ll share (100% human-authored) essays covering topics like:

• The origin stories and historic turning points of major cities

• The built environment, from formative city plans to iconic architecture

• Cultural “scenes” tied to a specific place and time, including visual art, literature, film, music and foodways

• How cities can foster civility, community, resilience, creativity and innovation

About me

I started my career as an economic development strategist helping cities and regions across the U.S. become more resilient, equitable and prosperous places. I also specialized in crafting place-based marketing and communications strategies that helped cities attract business and talent. I’m currently a freelance writer, editor and content strategist. I’m most passionate about helping communities tell their unique story, uncovering what makes them different from every other place in the world.

Learn more about my work at www.noellesalerno.com.