Week 6, Barker Chapter 12

I thought that there were some interesting ideas in this chapter about LA as the fortress city. I think that Barker's highlights of Mike Davis' apocalyptic vision of Los Angeles in his 1990 book City of Quartz is an eerie forecast of the 1992 LA riots. It's particularly interesting to see how our current downtown LA fits into this idea of cleaning out of the homeless, and cardboard tents, etc...I wonder what kind of obligation the new high rises, condos, hotels, and building projects have towards these urban natives? My guess would be very little. I'll be very interested to see what the outcome is in terms of LA Live and the regentrification of downtown LA. I appreciate Shields view that the city is not one and rather "a complex surface of activities and interactions." I think about how we should celebrate the diversity of voices within the postmodern city and understand that we're not defined or limited by our differences. If we can join together to do service, rally, and better our city perhaps we'll capture a true faith in action.